Imperfection
by faceted-mind
Summary: Elves are a race of perfection. When a child is created that is less than perfect, what will become of it? And what of its parents? LegolasElrohir Slash&Mpreg COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Imperfection

By Faceted Mind

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Rating: PG-13

Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Pairing: Legolas/Elrohir

Disclaimer: Tolkien would be turning in his grave. I claim to own nothing save the words on the page in front of you.

Summary: Elves are a race of perfection. When a child is created that is less than perfect, what will become of it? And what of its parents? Legolas/Elrohir Slash&Mpreg

AN: I love the idea of a 'Silvan' elvish (the language of the more Eastern elven Kingdoms - ie Mirkwood and Lothlórien) still existing, though only being used amongst Silvan elves. We know that most Silvan elves still speak Sindarin with a 'Silvan' accent, and I find it very hard to believe that a race would have discarded a language that they have always used (more literally than normal, for they are elves) to take on another elven language. Because of this, I will refer to Silvan as a language more than once during this story but won't make any attempts to 'create' the language. Try to think of the accent as a Welsh accent - long vowels and rolled r's - as such, Legolas would be called by his own people a name sounding somewhat more like Laegolass.

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"Aragorn?" The king turned from his advisor and looked across the hall, surprised, as his elven friend appeared at the other end of the hall. Dismissing the advisor he moved quickly across the empty space to embrace Legolas; but was confronted before he could reach him by a young elf-maiden carrying a cotton sling about her front. A stream of snapped elvish followed and Aragorn was left baffled as Legolas pulled the other elf away with a soothing word.

"What was that? It sounded elvish, but not like the tongue I know." Aragorn asked as the maiden turned away, obviously fuming.

"Do you not remember Silvan? I tried to teach you once." Legolas answered with a smile.

"Ah yes, but I seem to remember we hardly got past the pleasantries and something tells me that what was just said was not said pleasantly." Legolas grimaced.

"No indeed, the gist of what she said was that you should fetch me a chair, though much was added that I think it better you didn't hear. I do not think she realises you are the King..." Legolas wavered. "A chair, Aragorn, please? Else I shall fall where I stand."

"Of course." Aragorn replied, looking about him and finally settling on taking one of the chairs from around a nearby table. "What has happened to you?" He asked as he dragged the chair over. Legolas settled into the stiff-backed seat with a sigh. He was preparing to answer when there was a weak cry from the other elf's sling. So unexpected was the sound, the King of Gondor jumped in surprise.

"Aia." Legolas muttered, turning to take the babe from the woman as she lifted the tiny thing from the sling.

"Valar, Legolas. What are you doing travelling with such a small elfling? It cannot be a month old!"

"He is two weeks old," Legolas confirmed. "And was a month premature. We have travelled as soon as we felt it safe."

"Is this your wife?" Aragorn asked of the elleth that stood beside his friend.

"Wife!?" This was a westron word that the woman obviously knew, for she fell about laughing and continued to mutter 'wife' under her breath and chuckle to herself. Legolas too, smiled at her good humour and waited for her to finish before replying.

"Nay, she is a midwife and a nurse to the babe."

"Then where is the mother? Surely the child is too young to be weaned."

"Aragorn, I must ask your aid." The man frowned at the evasion of the question, but replied,

"Ask it and I shall do what I may."

"A family must be found for this boy. To foster him. The nurse will stay with him, for he will need special care. He must be hidden, for he is in danger if he is found with me."

"What danger, Legolas? Who is this child that he would call for such desperate measures?"

"Can you not just accept that I am asking and that is reason enough?" The reply was growled in anger as the elf, stood and confronted the man. The burst of anger, so uncharacteristic of the elf, took him aback for a moment. He struggled for words as the baby began to wail. Stepping forward he placed on hand on Legolas' shoulder and the other on the baby's head.

"I will care for the child myself if you would ask it of me, but if we are to protect him we must know what we are to guard him from." Legolas slumped back into the seat, and brought the baby close to his chest, hushing it.

"My father." He answered eventually. "You must protect him from my father."

"But why?"

"If he were to see him and I together there would be no doubt in his mind as to what I have done. Both our lives would be forfeit. I can protect myself, but he..." He looked down on the child in his arms.

"Is he yours?"

"Yes." Legolas smiled. "But no longer." The smile fell as his face hardened. "This is the only way."  
"Why!? What is it that you have done that is so terrible? Where is his mother and why do you look as though you have just survived Pellenor Fields for the second time?" Rolling the babe onto one shoulder, Legolas lifted the bottom of his jerkin and the undershirt beneath it to show a swathe of bandages around his middle.

"You were attacked by orcs? Was the mother lost?" Legolas smiled softly as the assumption.

"Sometimes I forget that you are so very young. And others you make it blindingly obvious. You have a child of your own, and have spent time in the houses of healing, do you not know what this is?" He indicated the wound.

"Did the mother do this to you?" Legolas blinked, stumped by the leap in logic.

"What?" He asked, baffled. Aragorn looked a little abashed.

"It is only that I remember that the time before Eldarion's birth was very... stressful for Arwen. She became a little violent and threatened several times to gut me if I thought to get her pregnant again." Legolas laughed heartily.

"My thanks, my friend. I needed that." He said as he swiped tears of mirth from his eyes. "No, the 'mother' did nothing of the sort. There was no mother, I birthed the child myself." The man looked mildly dumb-struck.

"How does... that... work?" He stuttered out.

"Much as it would with a woman."

"So there is a... a sire?"

"Aye, though if I name him it will be three lives at stake instead of two and so I cannot. These types of coupling are strictly outlawed amongst my people for this very reason. The punishment for such a relationship is banishment. For a child created... all three are sentenced to death."

"Why so strict a ruling?"

"The child is always... flawed, imperfect. The elves cannot stand to have one such amongst them. They are a perfect race." The sneering tone sounded foreign in his mouth. "The child might be slow to learn, he could find it hard to understand even simple things. He may not grow properly, or be weakened in limb or sense. There is so much that he might suffer in his life... I cannot stand to think on it."

"What will your father do?"

"Right now he knows nothing. I disappeared as soon as I began to show, only Mian has seen me throughout. I will hide a while longer and return when I am fit. He will suspect nothing if I am careful to keep the scar hidden."

"I thought your people didn't scar."

"Rarely. It will fade, but it will take longer to heal than most."

"And the sire?"

"The sire thinks I aborted the child when it was still safe to do so." Legolas replied sadly. Aragorn looked shocked.

"Who is this elf, that I might give him a piece of my mind. None should be asked to give up an unborn child. Not even one with such trials in his future."

"He was only trying to protect me." Anything Aragorn might have said in retort was lost as Legolas gasped in pain, clenching a fist to his abdomen. The nurse quickly took the babe from him and thrust it into Aragorn's arms, turning back just in time to catch the blond elf as he keeled forwards. Laying him down on the cold marble floor she lifted his shirt again to show that the clean white bandages of moments before were now seeped in blood.

Turning to the King the nurse spoke quickly in Silvan.

"I don't speak Silvan!" Aragorn near-shouted in panic. "Sindarin? Please say you speak Sindarin?" He continued, switching to the more common elven tongue.

"Bandage. Boil water. Needle, thread and room." The accent was so thick it took Aragorn a moment to process the words past the rolled r's and the extended vowels.

"There's a room here, I'll get the things you need, but you must take the baby if this subterfuge is to work." He hoped the woman would understand the rushed Sindarin and held out the baby so that he could carry Legolas into the other room. She looked at him with a despairing glance and lifted Legolas herself.

"Room now." She urged.

He left them alone in the small study off the main hall. There was a small sofa in there that Aragorn used for the nights he had worked too late to try and sneak into his own bed, and Legolas was quickly settled in it. He rushed back with the medical supplies and set them down beside the woman, who was removing the old bandages. She glanced up at him and offered a nod of thanks.

"Too early." She said, as she worked, revealing a wound the length of a finger along Legolas' side that was pumping with blood. "Too early to ask your help." She glanced up at the King to see if he had understood. His frown said he had not. Muttering, the nurse turned to Legolas who was stirring as she began to stitch the wound closed. Aragorn flinched as Legolas gasped, the nurse continuing the sutures despite the obvious pain of her patient. She offered him a stream of Silvan as she finished and he began to breathe steadily again. She punctuated her words with an expressive gesture at Aragorn.

"She says I have travelled too early, and risked myself for nothing. She thinks you will not help me." Legolas translated, not meeting his friend's eyes.

"Why did you travel so early, my friend? If no one knew of your pregnancy then there should be no one looking for you."

"I can only hide for so long. I must get fit again quickly to avoid arousing suspicion, and I needed to know he was safe first. If it is not to be with someone you know of, then I will find someone else to care for him, but it must be done quickly."

"Do not _think_ of travelling further before you have received proper care." The nurse mirrored his sentiment in Silvan and for a moment man and elf exchanged an agreeing glance.

"I cannot be near him Aragorn." Legolas continued, not seeing the exchange.

"We can hide him, or you. We will find someone to care for him within the city and you can stay here until you are healed."

"You do not understand."

"What do I not understand?"

"He is my son, Aragorn. I cannot sit here while he is being taken from me. I cannot watch him grow and see him without feeling the grief of his loss. I have travelled so early so that I would not bond with him to have him torn from me. He is not yet named for that reason."

"You intend to sever all ties with him." Aragorn half-whispered, shocked.

"There is no other way."

"But how can you..."

"There is NO OTHER WAY!" Legolas was choked with emotion and the nurse pulled him back down onto the bed as he tried to sit up, scowling at Aragorn.

"Then I should like to care for him myself, as a second son. Arwen has been travelling with Eldarion, we shall say that she was away so that she could birth the child away from the city, under her father's care. The deception will not be difficult, it will be safer for him and your father will never suspect."

"You would not care about being seen by your people to have a sickly son?"

"Would you?"

"I am not king in this place."

"He will be as my own, however his difficulties present themselves."

"And he will have dark hair." There was a smile on Legolas' face as he drifted into unconsciousness again. Nodding to Mian, Aragorn hurried away to prepare a carriage for himself and the nurse the following day.

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The next day dawned bright, and Aragorn hurried down the empty early-morning corridors to the rooms he had given the nurse and the babe so that Legolas should not be disturbed. Finding the rooms empty he hurried downstairs into the main hall. Mian was waiting for him in the doorway to the study, a face full of fury.

"Gone!" She cried out as he moved across the hall towards her. "No watchers? Idiot man." Her Sindarin might have been broken, but Aragorn understood. He had placed no guards on Legolas during the night, assuming he was too weakened to move far and assured by Mian that he would not worsen during the night. Legolas had crept away unnoticed. Sighing, Aragorn led Mian to the carriage with the baby hidden in the sling once more. A glance confirmed what he had suspected, Arod was gone from the stables.

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Arod felt his load begin to slip sideways and shifted quickly to keep it from falling. There was a moan at the sudden movement, but it had long been obvious to the horse of Rohan that speed was more important than comfort on this trip. He knew where he was headed, though his rider's aids had been confused. Keeping a steady pace he continued on, day and night until he reached a familiar archway. He did not stop there, though, despite the calls for his halt. He hurried through the courtyards and up onto wooden platforms until he came to a door and stopped, kicking the door with a large forehoof.

A tired face appeared in the doorway and blinked a little as it was faced with a horse staring pointedly back at him.

"Arod, what do you think you are doing!?" Elrohir asked.

The horse contemplated walking inside to deposit his load, but decided the roof was too low and so backed out into the courtyard and lay down so that his rider could be taken from him easily. He doubted Legolas was capable of moving himself. Elrohir gasped as his lover toppled lifeless from the top of his horse onto the wooden boards of the platform.


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Nevermind brought up a whole load of important questions that I thought I'd try to answer before we go any further._

_This fic IS AU... well yes... (although... apart from the Mpreg which is physically impossible, there's nothing REALLY in the literature that can prove this didn't happen...)_

_1) The ageing of the child and his blending in as Aragorn's son._

As you've suggested, I'm going on the idea that his small amount of human genetics will affect his ageing, if only a little. Think how little elven blood Aragorn has, and he lives to 200. I've also never heard a definitive answer regarding the physical growth of elves in their younger years. If there's something in the literature, please point it out to me because I'd love to know. Also, if you do the calculations, Arwen (and her brothers) and closer to 13/16ths elven (even Elrond wasn't precisely 50/50) and to the people of Gondor, who I would guess have never or very rarely seen elves, this is going to be more than elven enough to create elven babies, bearing in mind genetics wasn't even a concept back then. The fact that Arwen has chosen to live a mortal life has done nothing to the fact that she is Perhedil. She always will be, she's just made the decision to die at the end of it all.

_2) Aragorn and the caesarean scar_

_Yes, I realise this is a little bit of an incongruity on my part... but he didn't recognise it, did he? As to the quality of the surgery... He's not exactly fine and dandy is he..._

_3) Arwen and the child_

_Arwen is dealt with in this chapter, though mostly I'm going on the idea that the ruling was one made in Mirkwood and therefore only applies to her inhabitants... I hope I covered this one OK in the chapter, since this was your largest worry._

_Hope I answered all your questions. Have no fear about asking more, it's good for me to think about the story!_

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"Arwen." Aragorn grinned as his wife slipped from her horse and into his arms, his first son grinning at him with childish laughter from a papoose on his mother's back.

"Elessar! Why have you come?" Arwen found herself unable to wipe the mirroring grin from her face, despite her husband's unexpected appearance.

"Come with me." He said, gesturing at the carriage that he had arrived in and leading his wife inside. Arwen paused in the doorway as she spotted Mian, cloaked in Mirkwood colours and nursing the tiny babe. Taking her first child from her back, she climbed inside with Aragorn, Eldarion on her knees.

"What is going on, Aragorn?"

"There is a plot afoot in Minas Tirith, I would have your aid in creating a deception." Aragorn called her attention away from the tiny child as Eldarion toddled across the dividing space to greet him. "The family Telcontar must gain a second son." Arwen turned back to the child, taking a seat beside the nurse to look over the child more closely.  
"It is so tiny, so young to be taken from its home. Why have you brought it out here?"

"He is in danger, to protect him we must take him in as our own, as though you had carried him yourself."

"What mystery surrounds one so young?"

"He is Legolas' child..." Aragorn was preparing to explain further when he was interrupted.

"Legolas has borne a child!?" Arwen had long known about her brother's relationship with the elf, and knew that no child would be made by Legolas any other way. "No wonder he is in such danger, there are strict rulings against it. It would be death to all three of them if he were found out. Where is Legolas? Is he resting somewhere?" Arwen began to look about herself as though the carriage would conceal the elf somehow. It was unthinkable that he would be separated from the child completely, for it was a death sentence for him.

"He left alone as soon as he was sure that baby was safe. He knew that if he remained nearby they would both be at risk."

"Then we must hope he is safe and at home."

"He said he could not go back to Mirkwood until he had healed further, for his father would learn of the child and go looking for it."

"I did not mean..." Arwen paused, thinking through everything that Aragorn had said. She quickly realised that he knew nothing of her brother's involvement in all this. "I hope he is at home with the sire, for if he is not I fear he will not survive the separation from the child. An elven parent takes energy from the life they have created to restore them after the pregnancy. Male pregnancies more often than not claim the father before the law reaches them." Aragorn took this in with a stony expression.

"He lied to me. He said they would all be safe once the child was assured protection."

"There is nothing we can do about that now. We must swear my company to silence, for they are all that have seen me for the last few months. My family will believe them if I tell them that I was headed here for the birth but tarried too long upon the road and birthed the child in the carriage. He is so small, they might even believe today as a birth-date."

"Lord Elrond will be harder to convince. He is a healer and will be able to see from your body that you have not had this child."

"He will have to know the truth. But he will follow us in this deception, for he has protected Legolas before from his father."

"He knew of Legolas'... lover?"

"Yes. He knew."

"And you, did you know?" Arwen hesitated.

"I did. But do not ask me, Aragorn, please. This is not my secret to reveal."

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"This is all my fault." Elrohir murmured, watching as father work his medical magic upon Legolas.

"You knew what you were doing was outlawed in Legolas' culture?"

"Yes."

"And you knew it was because of this very eventuality?"

"Yes."

"And you knew the penalty for your discovery."

"Yes."

"Then yes, it is your fault, or at very least you share in the blame. The child was removed with a modicum of skill, but not enough... The wound is inflamed and infected and I think it unlikely the child survived, for it was quite premature and that he appears in such a state without it is not a good sign."

"But Legolas will be alright?"

"These scars will heal, with your help he will recover despite the loss."

"Then all is well." Elrohir released a sigh of relief.

"I did not raise you to be an idiot, Elrohir, so I very much hope you did not believe what you just said." Elrond ground out.

"Father?!" Both spun around as Elladan charged into the room. "What is going on? I saw you rush down here and then Glorfindel told me Elrohir was already here, I assumed the worst..." Elrohir discreetly pulled the sheet up over Legolas' new bandages.

"Come, Elladan." Elrond said. "Your brother is playing the fool, let us leave him to contemplate his situation."

"Valar, is that Legolas?" Elladan asked, peering over his father's shoulders. "What has happened?"

"Elladan, come outside. Elrohir needs a moment." Pulling Elladan outside, Elrond turned to his other son. "Think on this, my son. Legolas has just lost a child, though _you_ may think you have just been relieved of a burden of guilt and responsibility. He chose to keep the child despite what he knew its future held. Despite the forces against its existence. His body may heal, but his heart may not."

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Elrohir, waking from his extended vigil at Legolas' side, found his attention brought to the arched window of the south wall that looked out over the courtyard. Checking that Legolas had still not woken from the drugged sleep that Elrond had prescribed to allow his wound to heal without causing him further pain, Elrohir moved to the window and looked out over the balcony. A carriage bearing the seal of Gondor stood in the courtyard, nearly filling the small space as its company dismounted around it. As he watched, his sister and her husband dismounted the carriage and his attention was drawn to a bundle in Arwen's arms, as it let out a healthy bawl. As he watched, his father took the baby from her with a smile, holding it close as he soothed the startled cry. He was forced to turn away at the simple expression of domesticity. There was his second nephew, or first niece. If he had paid a little more attention, taken a little more trouble, that might have been his son. In his mind it was him handing his new-born son to his father with a smile, watching as he fussed over the child as only grandparents can, taking Legolas' hand and sharing a smile. He was crying before he knew it, and he hurried to the washroom as he heard someone coming along the hall, no doubt to fetch him to meet his sister's new child. He didn't think he could keep his composure; he would hide for now, for to cry over his sister's child would not be the best way to divert attention from his plight.

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"Elrohir?" Elladan called as he raced into the healing wing. His father had told him that his brother should still be in Legolas' room, but he was no where to be seen. Seeing that Legolas was stirring, he turned to offer him the invitation meant for his brother. "Legolas, have you heard? It's wonderful, Arwen has been gifted a second son. She has brought it here to meet us. Would you like to come?" A white pallor flushed over Legolas' face. "Are you ok Legolas? Do you need me to fetch a healer?"

"Here? Now?"

"The healers are only just around the corner, it would only take me a second. Should I..."

"But I cannot," Legolas continued, seemingly not hearing Elladan. "Their child is theirs, I do not want it here with me! They should not have come."

"This is Arwen's home, Aragorn's too in times past. They have every right to be here." Elladan replied, confused by the other elf's outburst.

"But I should not be here. This was not where I was going."

"You are lucky Arod did bring you here, for I doubt you could have travelled any further without aid. You would have died without father's help." Legolas said nothing to this, only met Elladan's eyes. For a moment, looking into crystal blue eyes, Elladan felt the bottom drop out of his world as he read the message there. 'I wouldn't have cared,' those eyes said. 'I wanted it.' The eyes hardened and Elladan looked away, startled.

"Oh Legolas, what has become of you?"

"My child is dead. As it was always fated to be. Now I must mourn his passing."

"You didn't take Elrohir's advice." Elladan realised with a sigh.

"I could not."

"But still..."

"I have lost him."

"Oh Legolas, I am so sorry." Legolas sat up, wincing as the wound in his side pulled viciously. Taking hold of Elladan's hands, he made him meet his eyes.

"Do not tell them I am here, please. I will be gone as soon as I am able. I cannot see them right now."

"Promise me you will not go before father declares you fit."

"I do not think I can..."

"Promise me! For I would not have my brother fall to grief should you harm yourself in your hurry to leave. How ever wrong the decisions he has made in this matter, I would not see him hurt."

"I promise I will not allow your brother to fall if it is in my power to stop it." Legolas swore.

The next morning, he was gone.

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Sesshyangel : oh dear, corrupted and traumatised... umm... sorry? Mostly the second two, but a little of the first later. ;)

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sielge : this is what! Hehe

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smoothNcreamy : Can't promise anything I'm afraid but... looks ahead a couple of chapters happy... happy?... must be here someplace... yes... well... there's a reason for the angst genre :P

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Kitty : Thankies!


	3. Chapter 3

Eight Years Later 

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Legolas heard the man climbing the tree behind him, but didn't react; his eyes focused on the two boys playing down below him. They looked remarkably similar, though the younger was more slight and the older more sure of himself, one with straight hair, the other with soft curls. The older put his finger to his lips and looked about conspiratorially, then - when they were sure the coast was clear - they put their heads together and started whispering.

"They are planning a prank on Mian. A big one, I would say, by the amount of whispering going on." Aragorn spoke from below him, where he had taken a seat in the boughs of the tree.

"Poor woman." Legolas was surprised to find his voice rough with tears.

"So, severing all ties, eh?"

"I've missed you too, Aragorn. And you know no one would have seen me here if you hadn't chosen to practice your ranger skills in the same tree. I know you didn't see me else you would have tried to sneak up on me." Legolas' attention was pulled back to the clearing as the younger boy whistled and two ponies came hurtling through the undergrowth, emerging with twigs and branches growing every-which-way from their manes.

"He has such a way with the horses. They listen to him like nothing I've ever seen. He would ride a larger horse if we let him and any horse would be more than happy to carry him."

"Is Eldarion not comfortable with the horses?"

"Oh he's a good rider, and quite skilled, but he rides with heels and reins man's style. I would almost say Riven treats the horses as an elf would, he rides with voice and heart though he has been brought up with a saddle and reins."

"Riven..." He repeated the name, sighing softly. "One of the ponies is his?"

"Yes, the skewbald, Tara. He hates to be parted from her. Sometimes we find Eldarion sneaking him into the stables in the night to visit her."

"Eldarion has his own pony?"

"Trini, the bay, is his."

"And together they pass the guards to visit them." Legolas sighed with a smile at the picture painted for him.

"Often it is Riven's idea. He knows well how to manipulate his brother. He could not do it alone, though, how ever often Eldarion might claim innocence."

"He is too young?" There was a hope in the elf's voice that Aragorn hated to shatter.

"He is near blind." Though he had been expecting something of the sort, the soft reply was like a kick in the teeth for Legolas. He turned back to the scene below him dejectedly. Riven was busy combing the tangles from Tara's mane with his fingers. "You cannot have been watching them for long if you have not noticed anything unusual about his actions." Aragorn observed.

"Or perhaps I just did not want to see." Came a soft reply. They sat together in silence for a while longer as Eldarion began piling ominous items into the saddlebags of the ponies. Legolas almost jumped when Aragorn spoke again, lost in thought as he was.

"Come back with me, meet him properly. There is no one here who doubts that he is my son, he is in no danger." His eyes widened.

"I do not think I could..." Aragorn's face changed, hardening, though there was nothing but sadness in his own eyes.

"Then I must ask you to leave, for though they might not see you the horses will, and they will not keep your presence a secret for long."

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The two boys stood before their father, eyes downcast as they were reprimanded for the intricately planned prank that had left the nursemaid coated with milk, flour and oats in the outer courtyard of the palace. Arwen stood silent to his right, saying nothing and trying quite hard to hide a smile as their charges were laid down before them. Legolas waited silently in the corner of the courtyard, arms crossed over his chest as he fought to contain his racing heart with Riven so close. He found he couldn't concentrate on Aragorn's words, his eyes fixed on the young boy's back as he listened to his punishment. As Aragorn finished he looked up at the elf and Legolas drew his attention away from the boy for a moment. A motion of the Ranger's head called him over and he moved to stand on Aragorn's left, greeting Arwen with a bow - on hand over his heart, the other sweeping outwards.

"Prince Legolas of Mirkwood, I would like to introduce my sons." Aragorn stated formally. "Eldarion, Crown Prince of Gondor."

"My Lord." Eldarion greeted formally, with a small bow.

"And Riven, younger Prince of Gondor." Riven bowed as his brother had, but remained silent. Aragorn lent over to add, "Riven does not like to speak to new people." Legolas silently thanked him for not using the word 'stranger'.

"I'm honoured to meet you, sons of Gondor." He returned a bow of his own trying to ignore his heart threatening to burst in his chest as Riven's eyes refused to seek out his own, remaining firmly fixed upon the ground.

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Seeking out the youngest Telcontar later that day, Legolas was reminded of Aragorn's words and turned his attentions to the stables. He quickly spotted the pretty little skewbald pony from the morning's activities and leant over the door to greet her.

"She is beautiful." He spoke into the muted quiet of the stables, and Riven looked up from where he sat at Tara's side in the stall. He was startled and took a moment to scan Legolas' face - a process that would have taken only a glance with any other pair of eyes - before he was reassured by the now-familiar face.

"I know that." He retorted, sounding offended. "I'm not blind you know, I just see less." Legolas frowned and let himself into the stable, taking a seat next to the boy, patting the horse on the neck as he did so to reassure her that he was a friend. Aragorn had tried to explain to him earlier in the day, but he had been too tied in knots from his introduction to pay much attention.

"Can you explain it to me? I want to understand." Riven hesitated.

"I do not often talk to people. My words are clumsy." He looked away, ashamed.

"I care not. No one else can tell me what you see."

"I see... less. Eldarion says that when he looks he can see all this." Riven drew a square around his face, stretching out to the limits of standard vision - almost a full length of his arms to either side and a little less above and below his face. "I can see only..." With one hand he reached out and drew a square in front of his face only as wide as the distance between his eyes and a similar height. "this. I see more further away than close, but always less."

Shod hoofbeats down the stable corridor alerted them to another's presence, and Riven sprang to the door to greet his brother and Trini as they rounded the corner.

"Where have you been?" He demanded as Eldarion slid back the bolt on the stall beside them, talking over the dividing half-wall as he walked Trini into her home.

"He kept me back for hours afterwards because I had not done the work he set." Eldarion untacked his mount quickly and - perching the tack on the dividing wall, used an overturned bucket to leap over himself. He dropped heavily into the hay and, ignoring Tara's snort of uncertainty at her new visitor, bowed to Legolas.

"My Lord." He greeted. Legolas waved the formalities off and he took a seat beside Riven, bringing a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket with a flourish, childish Gondorion covering the sheet.

"He said it was good, but still too big." Looking over Riven's shoulder, Legolas found that the page contained a simple poem, carefully transcribed. The script did seem needlessly large, filling both sides of the paper where a standard hand might only have filled half a page. Riven looked crestfallen.

"He knows I cannot write smaller, for I lose the words upon the page." He grumbled.

"Do you not go to school yourself?" Legolas asked, curious.

"No. Father and his advisors teach me here. But I do the work for the teacher in town. I am not allowed schooling in the schoolhouse. I 'hold back the other students'." He sneered at the phrase and Eldarion grasped his hand discreetly in silent reassurance.

"Aye, by doing better than the lot of us, and shamming us all." He teased, throwing his arm around Riven's shoulders.

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Aragorn found Legolas later that day sat in one of the open stalls in the stables with Arod and Tara nearby and the boys asleep on either side of him. He looked up and smiled helplessly as Aragorn came around the corner.

"This wasn't meant to happen." He sighed in a half-whisper. "I just wanted to see them, not become their friend."

Aragorn sat beside his friend, taking Eldarion into his own arms and allowing Legolas to change his grip on Riven to a more comfortable one.

"You cannot escape them now, you shall have to visit frequently else they will miss you. And you must come to their birthdays and the winter celebrations."

"You plan to kill me through parties." He replied dourly.

"You cannot hide from him any longer. Today has been an experience for him, it isn't often there are new elves in the palace. And we have all missed you. Gimli asks after you every time he is in the area. I hate telling him that I have heard nothing of you."

"It has been... hard. To be so alone after such a few years as we had. But it was for good reason, you know this." Riven stirred in his arms and Legolas muttered a soft word in Silvan as he settled himself again. Aragorn seemed to reach a decision, and grasped Legolas' shoulder to bring his attention back from the young one resting in his arms.

"I would have someone teach them Silvan. Mian's grasp of common is not good enough, and Arwen suggested that you would be the better teacher. Already they succeed in Rohirric and Sindarin, and they seem to enjoy the lessons."

"I cannot stay forever, Aragorn. I barely intended to stay more than a few days. I have duties back home."

"When you are here, that is all. I would demand no commitment from you." Legolas nearly flinched, for so like an insult had the last comment sounded.

"I will do what I can. But not this time, for I must return home for a time. When I have time to return I will do this."

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acuamaine, cami : thanks very much!

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confused : Sorry mate, think I might have lost you in that case. No A/L here. Aragorn is happy and married with two sons, you might have noticed. ;-) It was under Legolas and Aragorn as main characters because... funnily enough... they are going to be the main characters!

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Nevermind : I can tell you're going to be a hard one to satisfy! Not until September 3021 did the three keepers leave ME. Midsummer 3019 Arwen and Aragorn were reunited... if we say that now she's mortal she's going to have 9-months from conception to birth. 2 times 9 months is 18 months... darn, I'm sure this maths worked out when I thought about it before. (but we know that she didn't carry both children, so I could just as well say that their two pregnancies overlapped. sighI do TRY to stick to the details) As for your other questions... well I'm afraid you'll just have to wait see! :D

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LadyJanelly : Hmm... tying him down... drifts away... ahem! Ok, sorry. As you can see, they weren't too successful on that front. Maybe later ;-)


	4. Chapter 4

It was near a year before Legolas could return, having been called home by the affairs ofEryn Lasgalenand having never intended to stay in Gondor so long as he had. With such a long journey between the two cities, he needed a good amount of free time before he could even consider travelling from one to the other with intent to spend any time at his destination.

He was startled, as he arrived, at the change in the appearance of Eldarion as he was met at the front gates. Now turning ten the young boy sat tall in the saddle of a bay mare, looking every bit the Crown Prince. He greeted Legolas with enthusiasm, asking as many questions as he could find breath for about his travels. When eventually the elf had fielded as many questions as the young man could think of, he asked one of his own.

"Where is your brother this morn?" The frown that crossed Eldarions brow propagated one of his own. "Is he well?"

"He gets head-pains, he has done since he was very little. This one started this morning and he is confined to bed until it passes."

"Does it happen often?" Legolas asked, panic flaring in his chest.

"No, I can barely remember the last one... I think it may have been before your last visit. But it is scary." Legolas noted he did not say whom it was scary for. "It is worst when it begins and as it ends - oft he cannot even speak the pain is so great." Eldarion's eyes were wide in the memory. "And between his vision is clouded and bright light pains him." Eldarion shrugged off the worry in his eyes. "They always pass within a day, and afterwards he is terribly grouchy. We have to look after him while he is unwell, for it is not nice for him." Legolas accepted the childish frankness with a smile, now more eager than ever to see Riven.

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The door opened and shut lightly and cool fingers were lifting the cloth from his brow - warmed by his fever - and seeping it in the lavender scented water at his bedside.

"Papa?"

"No, it is Legolas. Your father has gone for medicines to help you sleep." Legolas wiped the cloth across the clammy brow and laid the cool towel over his forehead again.

"It is so dark, Legolas. So much darker than before."

"This will pass, it has done before."

"I know, but still I fear..."

"Hush." Sliding into the bed behind him, Legolas lifted Riven's head into his lap and reached across to soak the towel again. The young boy sighed softly as the cool towel was laid upon his brow.

"You are very much like an Uncle to me, Legolas." He said after a moment's silence. "Would you like to be my Uncle?" Legolas smiled at the innocent suggestion.

"Very much."

"Then you shall be Uncle Legolas. Have you met my Uncles? Father says they are twins, so similar you can hardly tell one from the other and cause much trouble in their realm with their prankster's habits. He thinks that is where Eldarion gets it from, from mother. I have never met them, though. I should like to very much."

"I have met them, and been subject to one or two of their pranks. But I can always tell them apart. They've never been able to trick me that way, though they have tried once or twice."

"How do you tell them apart?"

'Only one can make my heart sing.' Legolas thought, before crushing his rising sadness down and seeking a more appropriate answer.

"They are not identical twins, more mirror images. Elrohir has the smallest blemish on his right cheek from an old battle, Elladan has one on his left, though he will not tell the tale of how he received it. Elladan's voice is deeper, but Elrohir has a more wicked laugh. Elladan's comes from deep in his chest, as if his whole body were laughing."

"And the reason you were going to give? The one that gave you reason to pause?"

"You are much to perceptive for a boy of your years." Legolas grumbled. "But it is nothing that would aid you in telling them apart should you meet them."

"But I should like to know what would cause such a strain in my Uncle's voice." Legolas went to retort and pulled himself up short when he saw the brightness of Riven's eyes and the smile on his lips. Whether or not at his own expense, he was distracting the young boy from his pains.

"If I should tell you this, it must be upon an oath never to reveal it to another soul."

"It is that interesting then? Please tell, I swear the oath." Legolas hesitated. How to put his thoughts into words... and to the only one who should never be told the truth...

"Elrohir is the only one for whom I feel as it a hand has reached out and grasped my heart with great strength." His heart answered before he could finish thinking.

"You love him." Riven sounded awed.

"Once we loved each other, but it is no more, and can never be again."

"That is very sad, can you not tell me why?"

"No, for it is much to painful a tale to put into words. Rest now, your father returns."

Even as he spoke, the door slid open to reveal the King of Gondor - a steaming mug in his hands and Arwen right behind him. Even as he greeted the elf the smile on the King's face changed to a frown and he rushed forwards, near throwing the mug aside in his haste.

Confused, Legolas looked back down at Riven to find him curled in on himself, his head in his hands and his mouth open as though he were screaming silently. Arwen had him in her arms on the bed and was rocking him before Legolas had collected himself enough to even think about acting. Aragorn sat on the other side of the bed, murmuring quiet nonsense to the pained child and stroking his back until his pain seemed to ease and his body relaxed into his mother's arms. As Arwen lay the now-sleeping Riven down in his bed and carefully wrapped the thick blanket back around his shoulders, Aragorn drew a pale Legolas outside.

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The shaking elf was lowered into a chair and he looked about himself, startled, to find that Aragorn had led him into a spare room without his noticing. Aragorn knelt in front of Legolas and grasped both his hands in his own, trying to still the shakes that held him.

"Calm, my friend. It's over now." He soothed.

"What... I mean... why did... what was..." He trailed off, his words to uncertain to continue.

"You shouldn't have had to see that. I'm sorry. We were expecting another hour before it broke."

"That was... You were expecting that!"

"It had been how the breaking of his migraine has always presented itself."

"Will he be okay?" The wide-eyed question almost brought a smile to Aragorn's voice, so young did the elf sound for his many years.

"He will be fine when he wakes in the morning. The migraines have never lasted longer than a day, and this one was over quicker than most."

"What a way to start a visit." Legolas sighed, biting his lip as he found tears flooding to his eyes unbidden. "I'm sorry." He whispered, apologising for nothing much and for everything through the thickness of tears.

"Never fear, my friend. It's a shock to see him in such pain, but it's passed now."

"No, it never goes. The pain... it doesn't pass." Neither of them truly knew who he was talking about.

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He had been in Minas Tirith for two months, and it was suffocating him. He sat alone in the guest room allotted him. In the silence. The silence was suffocating. His future swam before him, blank and empty. Filled with hopelessness. Its emptiness was a void into which he could not help but fall, dragged ever onwards. Ever down.

He forced a smile onto his face as two hands rapped a pre-determined rhythm on his door.

"Come in." He replied, standing from where he had been laid prone on the bed and straightening his clothes. His quiver was on his back and buckled - more through force of habit than any sense of danger - before either boy entered the room.

"Uncle, we want to go riding, will you come with us?"

"Of course." And he knew that there was no other answer. Until his days ended and the grief took his tattered soul away, he would follow that boy anywhere. He cursed Aragorn for his stubbornness. And himself for the weakness that would not allow him to leave.

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LadyJanelly, grumpy : Thanks for the reviews!

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Sesshyangel : You have to bear in mind this was a long time before political correctness, but I think I'd like a go at him too. I'd always seen Eldarion as a great big-brother kind of figure, even before Riven came along. It's nice to see that brought out in him. I'd like to say that I knew whether or not Legolas had seen him before... but I don't know! This story is writing itself completely without conscious thought on my part.

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Non-christian : Painfully beautiful... what a fantastic oxymoron. Regarding in and out holes - what would he have shown Aragorn otherwise? Hehe... sorry, immature thoughts. You have to assume something went wrong with the pregnancy, as was predicted with his being a male father and all, and the procedure was necessary.

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Nevermind : Sorry I'm not up to your standard... but I'm not a big buff, I just like the characters.

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**Regarding Languages** : my reasoning is as follows - Sindarin, though Arwen's and potentially Aragorn's first language, would likely not be the language they would talk with in Gondor (could you imaging the unrest of the people if their King spoke in a tongue unknown to them?). That said, I have already stated that the boys have knowledge of the tongue. Gondors nearest neighbours and closest allies (in theory) are the men of Rohan. Whether or not these men know Westron, it would be a great advantage to any prince to know their first tongue - Rohirric, which Aragorn knows. As for Quenya, I debated this one. The most obvious reason is that the elves are leaving middle earth and there were few that still used the old language around anyway. It's a lot like Latin in modern day society. The only use would be in the reading of old manuscripts etc. which were left behind by the elves, and they are only kids - not scholars! Adûnaic IS Númenórien is it not? The language was almost completely taken over by Westron. Again, only a language for reading mouldy old scrolls.

Why Silvan? Coz it's Legolas, duh... ahem... no, the main reasoning was that there seemed to be a huge number of Silvan elves left behind after the huge departure of elves that happened around the War of the Ring. Thranduil and most of his kingdom did not seem to leave at all, they actually seemed to be settling back down in the newly renamed 'Eryn Lasgalen' with many of Lórien's elves (also a community the bulk of which were Silvan elves, unless I'm mistaken - which is very possible). For future relations given that Aragorn is trying to reunite ALL of middle earth under one banner, I could be useful. It also gives Aragorn an excuse to have Legolas where he can see him, and make sure he's ok. Though nothing was written about it, I think it likely he will have given them a bit of a scare disappearing so suddenly in the state he was in (mental and physical) from Rivendell.

Of course, this is all moot, because on further research I think it very likely Silvan was replaced with Sindarin long ago, and only the accent or dialect remains. Still... artistic license? I've been claiming that one a few too many times recently.


	5. Chapter 5

Sincere apologies for the wait, life caught up with me for a while there. Christmas coming, climbing course coming, work coming, so much to sort out and so little time! Anyway… on with the show.

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The pain had only grown worse, and now it seemed the very air he breathed threatened to choke him, and he fought not to show the children that he was struggling for breath. Riven was reading slowly aloud, trying desperately hard to form the complex words of the foreign language. The script he had been given had been enlarged to aid reading with his poor eyesight, and he held it away from him, as though hating to look at it. Eldarion frowned as he practised his own script in his head, in preparation for his own go. Riven paused and looked up as his adopted Uncle's head fell into his hands.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, putting the paper down on the desk. "I'm no good."

"No, no." Came the wheezed words. The exertion left him coughing heavily. Controlling himself he brought his breathing back in hand with sheer willpower. "I swallowed a fly." He finished with a smile.

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Arwen met him at the door of the makeshift classroom, kissing first Eldarion, then Riven on the forehead as they passed her, the two rejoicing in their freedom as they disappeared off down the corridor - Riven trailing after his brother, their hands entwined.

With a smile and a half-bow Legolas greeted her and she replied in kind, leading him back into the room. She took a seat in the chair her oldest son had been using only moments before and waited for Legolas to seat himself too. She met his eyes with a gaze that was so reminiscent of her grandmother that Legolas almost felt the need to shake himself as he released him with a blink.

"Go." She said at last. "I will not blame you, and I will watch over him for a little longer."

"I do not understand your meaning." He replied, his voice cold and face blank.

"I will not have you die in front of him." She continued softly, but with force. "He has enough troubles on his shoulders for a young man." There was worry in her eyes but for whom, Legolas could not say. He sighed and buried his head in his hands for a moment. There was no use claiming ignorance, he knew Arwen would not allow it.

"My heart grieves for our separation, yet it seems to suffer more in our stilted reunion. I don't know what to do. I had never intended for us to meet, and my mind curses the decision I made when I took the road into Gondor near a year ago. And yet… there was no thought as to whether or not I would return."

"And you _will_ return again, have hope. But now you must take your leave, for you are destroying yourself."

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"Mother?" Arwen looked up at Riven from the missive she was reading through for Aragorn.

"Yes, my son?"

"Do you know what has become of Legolas? He was not in his room this morning and none have seen him around the palace." Arwen breathed an inward sigh of relief. She had left the Mirkwood Prince pondering her words the night before, and had wondered if she had said enough to convince him. His stubbornness was well known to her. It had shocked her to the core to see the depth of the despair in his eyes when she had spoken with him. It almost seemed as if he had accepted his grief-borne doom. It was a blessing, she supposed, that the children were both still to young to understand the meaning of such symptoms in the elf. Even _they_ had seen that he was 'sad', and she had soothed their fears from him with words of home-sickness. Sending a silent prayer Legolas' way, Arwen turned her attention back to Riven.

"He was called home last night, Riven. I thought he might leave a message for you, but he was in a great hurry, perhaps he did not have the time. You know that he is a prince within his own lands, with duties of his own. He must go when his people call." Arwen pulled the young boy close as he sighed in barely concealed dejection.

"It is well. We have kept him away from his home, and he has missed it. He will be happy again." The tone of his voice held very little happiness, and Arwen resisted a second sigh. Some situations left no winners.

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The camp was quiet and stillness had descended over the trees as the wind dropped. The peace around him was enough to assure him that all was well in the forest and his thoughts turned contemplative as he whiled away the hours of his sentry duty.

He had lingered long in Fangorn after leaving Minas Tirith, wishing that the ache in his heart would fade or simply allow him release. He had passed many weeks beneath the darkling forest before he realised that the pain was not going to leave him any time soon and that there would be no easy way out for him while so much still held him in Middle Earth. He had returned to Eryn Lasgalen at last hoping for solace under the boughs of the trees that had watched over him from birth. Arriving to find a spider hunt forming, he had quickly been accepted into their ranks as an archer, only sparing a moment to wash the dirt of the road from his clothes and body and wish his father well.

It had taken them two weeks to reach the nest that had been discovered, knowing better than to dash headlong into such a dangerous area of forest and taking their time though the thick foliage. They were much further south now, entering lands that once belonged to Dol Guldur and its dark inhabitants.

The elves of Lothlórien had been living in the dark wood for several years, and though the process was slow the light was seeping back into the forest. Still there were pockets of resistance; orcs, wargs and the ever-present spiders, hidden away after the fall of the dark lord. The elven hunters were now well practised at destroying spider nests, and the battle had gone well. Two elves had been bitten, but were readily recovering from the venom, and the only other hurts had been scratches and bruises. Already they were three days closer to home and yet reluctance was flaring in Legolas, pulling him south once more. The thought of the slow, peaceful life that awaited him at his father's side - once a blessing as he recovered after his flight from Rivendell - was now less than appealing.

Action kept his thoughts empty, and when there was none he found his mind focused on very little save what he had lost. When he had first sought out his homeland he had been blank and empty in himself. Numb, he had got through the days in a good imitation of living, but he could barely remember the months that had passed in the haze. Eight years had been a blink of the eye and - upon waking - he had found Arod leading him determinedly back towards Minas Tirith. How it had pained him to see him there, so grown. So like his cousin… his brother. So distant.

And now every moment spent away from him was pain, just as every moment spent near and yet apart was agonising. His soul was torn, but his heart knew where he would rather be. His heart _knew_.

Rousing the next watchman, Legolas explained his plans and wished him well, hurrying into the night.

South once more.

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Winter was setting in to Minas Tirith when the rider was spotted, and the first snows were falling as he reached the gates. Arod was taken from him and rushed to the yard to get dried off and into a warm stable. Borrowing a horse from the gatehouse stables, the rider made the final leg of his journey in near blizzard conditions as the wind threw the snow down at them through the thin alleyways of the city.

The palace stables were empty when he reached them, the horses of the royal guard, the royal family and even those of the nobles who might have been spending time in the palace itself… all were gone. The stable hands at the gatehouse had said nothing about any goings-on at the palace, nor told him of any alternative stabling arrangements. Panic welled up in him unbidden.

Quickly stabling his borrowed horse within the complex, he hurried towards the palace praying his worries were misplaced.

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The grand doors of the palace, big enough to let in a sizeable troll, were not the every-day entrance to the grand building at the very top of Minas Tirith. The stables, hidden around the back of the building out of sight, had an entrance of their own. A perfectly modest door, it was more than capable of accepting most visitors into the grand halls beyond without the undue fuss of calling the two sturdy young men it took to open their rather larger counterparts.

On most days, that is.

Today, as tried to enter the halls of King Ellessar, he struck an obstacle. The door jammed solidly, only an inch or two from the frame.

"HOLD ON!" A voice shouted from the other side. There came from around the doorframe a sound that reminded him of a horse champing on feed. Now even more worried - who was eating what inside the marble halls of the King? - he pushed harder with his shoulder and was rewarded with an inch or two more. Only a little further and he would fit though the gap.

"Will you STOP it!" The voice came again. This time it seemed to Legolas that it sounded rather like Eldarion. He paused. A face appeared in the gap he had made between the door and the frame. It was indeed the crown prince, looking a little ruffled. "Uncle… Prince Legolas!" The voice came out shocked and panicked. "What are YOU doing here?" Eldarion seemed to realise how rude the question might have sounded, so phrased, a moment to late and winced. "I mean… please don't tell father. We'll get into so much trouble." The despairing plea came out breathless as at last the obstruction was moved from behind the door and it swung open to reveal… possibly the most bizarre scene he had ever been subject to.

The marble-floored hall was filled with horses.

Many, many horses

In fact, it seemed the stables had been emptied. Water buckets and feed bowls stood here and there amongst the mass of steaming bodies as the snow evaporated off the horses' blankets in the warmth of the heated halls. All of the animals looked a little uncertain at their new lodgings, but none seemed too upset. Riven appeared, Tara close on his heels, and greeted Legolas with a frown.

"Did you ride up here?" He demanded crossly. "You've left another horse in that damp cold stable, haven't you! And I bet you didn't even leave him a blanket."

"What's going on here?" Legolas asked, a little bewildered at his welcome.

"There's a hole in the stable roof and all the stable hands are away in the town. No one will go out and mend it in this weather." Eldarion explained hesitantly. Riven was already half way out of the door, on his way to get Legolas' borrowed mount.

"So you brought the horses into the great hall?"

"It seemed the most sensible option… at the time." Eldarion grimaced. "Father's going to kill us."

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nonchristian, dawn, grumpy : Thanks!

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nevermind : Thank you! My apologies for my grammar, etc. Sometimes I write things without reading them, makes for the kind of mistakes you pointed out there. I'll try be more careful in future, but I can't promise anything. I'm glad you can find enough in this fic to keep you reading. It makes me feel quite good about the fic as a whole, because there's enough to weigh up with the bits you can find to complain about :P

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Haldir's heart and soul : I agree, Elrohir was a complete bastard about the whole thing, but he was only trying to protect Legolas, trying to keep him from the very pain he's experiencing here, or worse, from his people's wrath and his potential death.

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And to everyone else who's wondering about Elrohir… patience is a virtue. Legolas' certainly not going to take up with anyone else, but this is an L/E fic because this was the main pairing. Legolas obviously feels they are 'separated' and so no longer lovers, but this doesn't mean love no longer exists between them. I'm trying to only focus on places where we see two or more of them together. Obviously there are some individual pieces here and there that are needed for the flow of the fic, but Riven has never met Elrohir (in his own memory) so their first meeting has still to come. You won't see him until then.


	6. Chapter 6

Prally shouldn't post things like this at 2am after a night's dancing when I'm knackered and so my grasp on English is hardly at its best. Oh well…

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Ia as the plural of ion? Ia-nin. My sons. What do you think?

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There was the sound of hoof-beats in the courtyard, muffled by the billowing snows, was yet loud enough to alert the cohorts that their judgement was close at hand. The three froze, exchanging panicked glances.

"Go go go!" Legolas urged across the hall as the outer doors began to creak, voices filtering through to them from the blustery outdoors. Riven and Eldarion dashed for the stables, carrying the last of the feed buckets. Realising he was still stood in the middle of the hall with a broom - not the best way to look inconspicuous - Legolas dashed for the hall and propped the broom against the wall before re-entering the hall at a more sedate pace. Just in time to greet the king and his company as they entered, shaking the snow from their coats.

"Legolas!" Aragorn greeted, hurrying inwards and encouraging the others to close the doors against the chill. Legolas bowed with a smile, using the opportunity to scan the large room to make sure they hadn't missed anything. Legolas had braved the storm to put a temporary cover over the hole in the stable roof and the horses were all now back in their rightful places. Only just in time it seemed. The man slapped a hand on the elf's shoulder in greeting. "Welcome back. You'll excuse me if I don't talk now. After so many years I fear I'm softening, a warm bath calls my name."

"Go my friend, we will talk later." Legolas grinned.

"We will." He confirmed. "I am curious what great goings-on in Eryn Lasgalen called for such a hasty return."

"Father!" Legolas winced at the pair's appearance as they hurtled across the hall towards their father. The return of the horses to the stables had been a hurried affair, and both boys looked as though they had been in a hay-fight. Aragorn didn't look too surprised at this, but simply gathered them up in his arms.

"You look almost as road-dirtied as I, and you haven't left the palace!" He laughed. "Perhaps we shall all have baths before we dine." With laughter in his eyes, the King led the two away.

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"Legolas." Aragorn's call cut through the elf's daydream as his pencil traced absent doodles across the page. He grimaced once at the page under his hand before turning his attention to the King who stood in his doorway. "Faramir says I have a visitor waiting in my study and two southern lords in the meeting room calling for my blood, will you keep who ever is in the study busy? I fear the lords call my attention more immediately."

"Of course… what…" But Aragorn was gone before he could complete the question, hurrying off to see to those who he relied on to run the country alongside him. Legolas had quite happily fallen back into place within the Telcontar household upon his return, and had been happy to do everything he could to aid his friend. If that meant entertaining some noble for a short time while Elessar was occupied elsewhere, so be it. It was still more interesting than what he might have been doing around his own home had he not returned. Festering in his own convoluted grief. No, he was much better off here.

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The door to the study appeared beneath his hand and he paused, still lost in thought. Shaking himself out of his daydream, he stepped into the study.

His mind went blank.

His heart faltered.

He span around, facing back into the hallway. Turning his back on the one who he most wanted to see, and yet had hoped never to see again.

He had stiffened, his heart racing in his chest. Aragorn couldn't have known, of course. He'd made sure the man wouldn't find out, unsure of what he might think of them. And after that only because he had no wish to bring attention to his lover, who he had so far protected from Mirkwood's wrath.

He glanced back over his shoulder, if only to assure himself he was not going mad.

Elrohir too, seemed frozen in place. His eyes searched Legolas' - lip gripped in his teeth as though he could keep himself rooted though such a simple gesture. He seemed tired to Legolas, a weariness that showed in his eyes.

"You disappeared." He released his abused lip finally to mutter the soft words, more to himself it seemed than to Legolas.

"I needed time." He responded; trying to swallow past the lump that was forming in his throat. He turned a little further into the room, still tensed to run. He had never expected to be faced with his desertion in this way. He had forced his mind not to focus on his love, for the thoughts could only cause him pain.

"You didn't come back." Elrohir crossed his arms tightly over his chest, pulling back, retreating into himself.

"I… Couldn't." He couldn't help the hesitation in his voice as he answered.

"Never?" A desperate whisper. And that was the question, was it not? Would he ever be able to return to what they had once had? Not yet certainly, but if not now, when? He rubbed at his chest, trying to dislodge the weight that was building there. He was spared further anguish moments later as two bodies came hurtling into the study, one stopping in the doorway upon seeing the other person in the room, the other continuing on to grasp Legolas' hand as if to drag him away. Had he been a little taller, he might have had more success.

"Riven." Eldarion hissed. The younger boy froze, following the line of his brother's gaze across the room until it came to rest upon the stranger.

"Elessaria, this is your uncle." Legolas introduced them, using the hand not restrained by Riven to gesture across the room. He was about to continue when Riven surprised them all by stepping forward.

"My lord Elrohir." He bowed. Eldarion stared, agape. It was rare that Riven spoke at all to anyone who he didn't know, let alone make such an introduction.

"A brave greeting. If I were Elladan I might take offence at such an assumption." Elrohir smiled down at him.

"But you are not, and so you might think perhaps I had not assumed, but known."

"That is true." Elrohir smiled and laughed lightly. "Greetings Riven, Son of Gondor." He looked across the room to where Eldarion was recovering himself and stepping forward. "And Eldarion, Crown Prince of Gondor." He bowed.

"My Lord." Eldarion replied, casting his brother a questioning glance that he missed, still taking in the details of his new Uncle.

"Elrohir!" Aragorn, appearing in the doorway, greeted the twin with a back-slapping hug and stepped back to look him over. "It's been almost ten years, I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about us."

"Time passes so differently for us, Aragorn. You know this. I am sorry that I have not visited sooner. It seems the little ones aren't so little anymore."

"Where is Elladan? I haven't seen you travel separately since… well… ever."

"I do not know where Elladan is." Elrohir answered, with a tired sadness as though he had been asked the question too many times.

"Is he missing? Where have you looked? Give me a moment and I will prepare a horse…"

"No, Aragorn. Nothing like that. He is with the Dúnedain in the north. I'm sure he's fine, we would have had word if he were not. We are simply riding separately for a while. There was a time when it was not so unusal." Elrohir met Legolas' gaze, and he looked away immediately, overwhelmed with memories.

-

Legolas escaped as quickly as was polite, leaving the reunited friends talking of changes taking place in Imladris and Lothlórien now that their warders were gone. The young ones followed him out, bored of the talk of adults. Elrohir watched Legolas go mournfully, trying to muffle the pain at his departure. They needed to talk, and soon. This could not go on. Meanwhile, Riven was bursting with excitement as he turned to Legolas as soon as they were out of earshot of the room they had just left.

"Your hands were shaking, that was how I identified him." He explained conspiratorially. "When he confronted me I thought perhaps I had been mistaken, but I was not." Riven smiled up at Legolas, proud of his achievement, but took in the drawn look of his face and hesitated. "Are you alright, Uncle?"

"Yes, I am well. Only…" He sighed. "Our reunion wasn't quite what I had expected." And it was the truth, for the white-hot anger that he had clung to for so many years had dissipated almost immediately, leaving him feeling only the loss of the love he had treasured for centuries. So many memories had clamoured for attention and they had all obscured the one that he had focused on for so long - sad eyes telling him that it would be for the best… It was the only way… It was better in the long-run…

Packaging away the maudlin thoughts, Legolas led the boys back up to their rooms.

-

From the balcony of their rooms, the boys could overlook the gardens of the palace and beyond, the mountains to the west. Sitting together now, wrapped up against the chill, they watched as a blond figure wove a path through the white flurries beneath the bare branches of sleeping cherry trees.

"Isn't it so desperately sad." Riven murmured, almost to himself, as he watched Legolas walk through the desolation of winter.

"What's sad?" Eldarion asked from under a pile of blankets beside Riven. The older brother seemed to suffer a great deal more from the cold than the younger, who could quite happily sit in the snow with little more than his usual clothes without being overly affected by it.

"Look. Can't you see how sad he is? He must miss him desperately."

"Miss who?" Eldarion asked, peeking out of the covers only long enough to see Legolas wandering the gardens.

"Elrohir."

"Why would he miss Uncle Elrohir? He's here." Riven seemed to realise he'd said too much and fell silent, simply watching once more. Seeing that his younger brother was seriously concerned, Eldarion pushed a little.

"Tell me, Riven. We can't do anything if you keep things from me." Riven looked up and met his eyes.

"We can do something about it?"

"Of course. There's always _something_ we can do. But not if I don't know what's going on." Riven considered this for a moment before acquiescing.

"I don't completely understand it. All I know is that they were in love and now they can't be together, even though they still love each other."

"That doesn't make any sense." Eldarion frowned.

"I know. But that's what he said to me, and he wouldn't say any more."

"Do you think it's because they live so far apart?"

"But why would that stop them now, when they are together."

"Maybe it's because of their fathers. Do you remember the tales Gimli used to tell of the Elven-king - that is Legolas' father!"

"Maybe. I was always scared of him in those stories, and I should hate to meet him." This confirmed, they grasped the idea fully.

"It must be terrible to be told what to do by your father." Eldarion said softly, temporarily forgiving his own father for anything that he might have been strict about. Love was the one thing that no one could control, even as a young man he knew this.

"So what can we do?"

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LadyJanelly : You're beginning to pick up on the pattern then. Hehe. Glad you're still with me.

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nevermind : Glad I could entertain somebody. :D Sorry about the general all-round cause for pessimism… but I can't promise you that it'll get better any time soon. Hope this update is fast enough to make it up to you. ;)

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Haldir's Heart and Soul : Not much chance of that. Even not knowing that it's his own son, Elrohir will care for the boy as a nephew.

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Grumpy : that was one of those scenes that came out of nowhere… or out of coordination chemistry lectures anyway (have to wonder how I'm ever going to revise for exams when half my lecture notes consist mostly of half-written fanfic). It wasn't planned at all, just a brief comic interlude. Or at least that's what I hoped it would be.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: I'm going on the book story-line for one important fact: Aragorn had no or little interaction with Legolas before the Council of Elrond. Their great friendship came about solely through the trials that the ring brought upon them. Certainly Legolas wouldn't have known of his 'hidden identity', or revealed it so rudely at the council. I do wonder why they put that into the film sometimes… Anyway, hope this doesn't annoy/offend anyone.

Also, though they were present in the film version, the twins weren't at the Council of Elrond in the books (they were out hunting orcs) and met up with the fellowship at Helm's Deep and I'm going with this too.

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_They are fair and gallant as Elven-Lords; and that is not to be wondered at in the sons of Elrond of Rivendell._

Legolas to Gimli in 'The Passing of the Grey Company' - Return of the King

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Elrohir stood by his window, transfixed. The snow had fallen thick and heavy across the courtyards outside and the world was white and bleak. It mirrored his emotions perfectly. He had never expected to find Legolas here, though he had come on word from a friend in Eryn Lasgalen that this was where Legolas had been heading. Again and again he had thought he had caught up with Legolas, only to find had disappeared. To find him so suddenly had tripped him and left him reeling. The reception he had received was hardly what he had expected, and it seemed as if Legolas didn't want to be in his presence, let alone talk to him.

_"What has gone on between you?" Aragorn asked, watching as Legolas excused himself and hurried out of the room, Elrohir left behind with his hand outstretched as though he could call him back with a gesture. His arm dropped heavily to his side, but he still did not turn to face the King. "It seemed as though you knew each other well at Helm's Deep," Aragorn continued, "though I do not remember seeing Legolas in Rivendell before the Council."_

_"Mirkwood has been overwhelmed for over fifty years now, they could rarely spare him." He replied absently, still staring after the departed figure. "It was more often the case that I would go to Mirkwood to offer aid so that we might spend time together." He sighed and turned back to the King._

_"Why does he turn away from you now?" A flash of pain, quickly subdued, made Aragorn frown._

_"He turned from me long ago." Elrohir replied cryptically. "I begin to wonder if he will ever turn back." He returned to staring at the door._

Movement in the white expanse caught his attention, and he focused on the figure as it moved out into the light. Legolas wore the light-brown riding cloak he had often seen him in, his quiver and bow slung over his shoulder and peaking out of the slit that ran up the back of the cloak to allow its use without becoming an obstacle. Elrohir absently wondered if he ever went anywhere without the weapon. It was not difficult to identify the elf, the long blond tresses flicking around his shoulders and trying to escape their bindings in the blustery winds. He longed to be out there with him, as in the days of old; taking his hand, keeping him close, feeling the warmth in his body. But he didn't know how he would be received. It was relief enough to see him alive and well, though his eyes were tired and still filled with the familiar grief he saw in his own when he gazed into the mirror.

"Elrohir." The youngest son of Elrond of Rivendell looked over his shoulder to find his sister standing in the doorway. "There are things that must be said."

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"I had thought you were both together when we visited after Riven's birth. I assumed he had come straight back to you, and that was why you hid yourself away - to see to him. If I had known… I would have sought you out…"

"You could have done nothing. Legolas made the choice to leave. I almost envied him the decision. I could not stand to see what could have been. It was not your fault the births were so close… I had no intention of being rude, you understand. I just could not see…" Arwen fought the temptation to cry out loud. No wonder so many things were twisted as they were. If Legolas refused to tell anyone the truth there was no chance of the situation resolving itself. "How did you know of this?" Elrohir asked, suddenly curious. No one had been told of the exact reason for Legolas' short-lived visit to Rivendell, only that he had needed Elrond's attentions.

"He has talked of it." Arwen lied softly.

"What has he said?" Elrohir tried his very best not to sound overly curious. Arwen hesitated. It would be so easy to tell him everything, it would help heal so many hurts if the two of them were back together and taking comfort from each other. But it was not her place to speak the words.

"I am not the one to talk of such things. You must go to him."

"He will not talk to me. He disappears whenever I am near."

"Do not LET him disappear. He is not spirit that would slip through your fingers if you reach for him." Arwen paused, making Elrohir meet her eyes. "Though I would not count on this being the case forever."

"You think he would fade?"

"He has had near ten years to fade. He hangs by a thread, my brother. He needs you now, more so than ever since you have left him alone so long."

"I _tried_ to find him. I went to Lasgalen again and again. I was always told that he was out in the forest or that he had refused me entry. Thranduil never spared me any pity nor offered me a bed for the night. He has never liked me. Once I tried to wait for his party's return and I was chased from the forest by his guards."

"His heart was suffering, you cannot blame him his restlessness. Nor can you blame his father for his nature."

"I don't know what to do to reach him now. What can I do if he is out of reach?"

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On the balcony some floors above, the boys were planning.

"We need a plan." Or trying to at least.

"But it must be a good plan." Riven pointed out. "Else they will suspect us."

"Perhaps if we lock them in a room together?"

"They are both too skilled to be held for long, and then they would come after us!"

"The dungeons would keep them."

"That _isn't_ going to work!" Riven laughed out loud in exasperation. The thought left the two giggling for a while before they brought themselves back to the topic in hand.

"We could ask for archery lessons!" Riven exclaimed.

"Elrohir is a swordsman, not an archer like Legolas. That would get Legolas in one place, but not Elrohir."

"And father always says no to arms lessons anyway." Riven grumbled under his breath. His brother made no comment regarding his own tutoring. It was a subject not mentioned between the two of them, though Riven knew Eldarion had been receiving lessons for some time and was already excelling under the best tutelage Gondor had to offer.

"We could always just take them riding." Eldarion suggested.

"Do you think that would work?" Riven asked, doubtful.

"Why not?"

"Well… that's simple."

-

Eldarion had returned to his room and Riven was settled in bed with the decision made. He slept in the way of the elves, eyes open to the world. The sight made a lump rise in Legolas' throat as he wondered how he had not realised earlier. He wondered if Eldarion was the same, with his mother's elven blood in his veins. Movement behind him alerted him to Elrohir's presence long before he made himself known, looking over his shoulder into the room beyond.

"That could have been him, couldn't it. They would have been friends, cousins." Elrohir scrubbed absently at his face, stepping back out of the doorway. "You don't talk any more. Are you like this all the time, or only for me?" He tried to meet Legolas' eyes, but he still looked silently into Riven's room at the sleeping form. He placed a hand on Legolas' shoulder, feeling the racing beat and uncertain breaths beneath his palm. "Have to talked to anyone about this? Have you even cried? You cannot keep this inside of yourself, you know." He sought wildly for some way to get Legolas to respond. At last he looked up, only to look away again before responding.

"Who would you have me talk to? My father perhaps? I have no wish for death. And I have cried more than enough these past years. I have to wonder if you have? This was what you wanted, was it not?" He could not help the bite that entered his voice, and stepped hurriedly away from the doorway as Riven stirred. Elrohir grasped Legolas' arms, anger and pain etched across his face.

"Not this way. I never wanted it this way…" A tear escaped him and traced a line down his face. "I never wanted to hurt you. I love you, you can't believe I ever wanted to hurt you." Legolas stifled a sob and suddenly they were both crying, finding support in the walls as they maintained a false distance between each other. Both wanted more than anything just to fall into the arms across from them, to let the other's presence soothe away the hurts.

"Why did you not come to find me?" The question was barely more than a whisper, but Elrohir heard. Breaking into the barrier they had erected around themselves, he stepped forward and pulled Legolas into his arms.

"I did not know how. I did not know if you would want me to, if you still wanted me at all. I wanted to, every day… I searched for you once you had left Imladris, but you never allowed me entry into the forest."

"I was never told you were there." Legolas looked up, searching out the truth in Elrohir's eyes. "My father." He realised with a sigh. "He must have been the one who hid your visits from me."

"I came, I waited, but always was I sent away. I thought you did not want to see me. Did not want me anymore."

"What would you have me do now? I cannot return to you as if all is forgiven. My grief holds me too tightly for that, and I fear there is no room in my heart for ought else."

"I would have you look at me. Talk to me… tell me what you will, I care not."

"I cannot tell you what you want to hear."

"How can you claim to know what I want to hear?"

"We have not been apart so long that I have forgotten six centuries of our union."

"And yet you would give up those memories, as if they meant nothing?"

"Never." He met Elrohir's gaze, his eyes burning with emotion. "I hold them close in my heart. Yet I cannot forget what has happened these few years passed."

"We have been through much together. We can…"

"We were not together." Legolas interrupted. "I was alone."

"It didn't have to be that way. If you had only told me…"

"You made it clear how you wanted things. I did my best to give you what you wanted… but _my way_."

"What were your plans, after that? How would you have continued had the child survived? Would you have hidden from the world forever? How would you have cared for it, exiled from Eryn Lasgalen on pain of death?"

"I could not give up without a fight."

"And me? Would I have ever seen this child? Would you have abandoned me too?"

"I did not forsake…"

"You lost the fight Legolas." He interrupted, hating the tears he could feel in his eyes, the tears that ran down Legolas' face, the breaking of his voice. Hating that he was the cause of it all. "When will you stop punishing yourself for it? I would have you back." As soon as the words were out the atmosphere changed; suddenly charged and tense. He reached out slowly - as he might approach a scared animal - to wipe the tear stains from Legolas' cheeks. Legolas pulled away from the contact.

"It is too late for that." He spat back. "Too much has been lost. Find another, one who will be more truthful with you." Elrohir flinched.

"How could you think that…" Legolas was already turning, walking away from him. "No. Stop this." He gripped Legolas' elbow, halting his retreat and pulling him back towards him. Legolas refused to turn and face him, keeping his back stubbornly turned and his shoulders tense. He slowly brought his arms around Legolas' waist, pulling him close into his chest. "Stop this." His voice was softer this time. "Please, just talk to me." His hand hesitated over a place on his abdomen where he knew a scar would still linger, an anomaly on elven skin. Legolas flinched away as pain stabbed through him, through his heart and his stomach. Fighting the urge to cry out, he pushed Elrohir away and ran through the corridors, not stopping until he reached his own room and locking the door behind him.

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A knock the next day roused Legolas from a slumber so deep he was sure he could make out the light on the other side. Raising his head he groggily called out a 'who is it?' before allowing his head to drop back to the pillow. He could not remember being so tired in his life, and never had sleep left him feeling so drained. The sleep of elven-kind was not supposed to be anything but restful, a gentle reverie.

"It's Riven!" Came the reply. "Open the door!" Of course, he could never refuse such a call. He stood hastily, already reaching for his quiver as his feet touched the floor. When he opened his eyes to find his nose touching the floor moments later he _knew_ something was wrong. He pulled himself to his feet using the pillar of his bed and wandered to the door, trying to keep his feet below him. Resting his head on the wall beside the door when he reached it, he struggled momentarily with the lock before realising it was not locked and pulled the door open.

"Come with us, we are going riding with Elrohir and father." Riven pleaded with a smile as soon as the door was opened a crack.

"I cannot." Legolas replied weakly trying to hide that it was only the wall that was keeping him upright.

"Come, you have nothing to fear from him!" Riven seized Legolas' arm and started pulling on it as if to drag him from the room, it was a game they had often played though if Riven won it was usually more through his persuasion than his tugging. Riven released his arm in shock as the elf cried out in pain, crumpling to his knees. "Oh! Oh! I'm sorry, did I hurt you? What's wrong?" Legolas was breathing deeply to push aside the pain that clouded his vision and made his head spin. Clearing his head enough to see again he looked down and found a patch of red soaking through his tunic and onto his hand. Riven's seeking eyes had found the same thing and drew in a shocked gasp. "Oh, Eru. Did I do that?" He looked suddenly very pale.

"No no, it is a wound reopened, that is all. Do not fret." He soothed weakly.

"I did not know you were wounded. What can I do?"

"Fetch me a healer and go riding with your Father and Elrohir. Go quickly else they will wonder where you are. Say nothing of this to your father. He would only worry unduly." Once Riven had nodded and hurried away down the corridor Legolas hauled himself back to his feet, trying to still the shaking that make his every movement painful. Keeping one hand clasped to his side, he stumbled back towards his bed.

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"When I asked for a healer, you were not who I had in mind." Legolas complained wryly. He was rested against the headboard of the bed and didn't look up as Aragorn entered. "Surely the King of Gondor has more important things to be doing than tending me." He continued.

"I was due a break." He replied shortly, moving into the room and placing a bowl of heated water on the dresser.

"You were supposed to be riding with your sons and your brother."

"There is still time for that. How did you come to be wounded?" Legolas batted his seeking hands away as he moved to check the wound.

"It is an old wound reopened, nothing more. I do not need your attentions, only a healer to add a stitch or two."

"No wound taken by an elf such as yourself should require stitches, Legolas. What are you trying to hide from me?" Legolas considered fighting more, but realised he was just too tired for it. He lifted the wad of cotton he had been using as a temporary bandage to show Aragorn the source of the bleeding. The long scar from Riven's birth was no longer, and in its place a long gaping wound, slowly seeping blood. It looked as if it had only happened a day or two previous.

"That scar is over ten years old. It is no recent wound to be reopened by the tugging of a boy."

"To have them both so close…" Legolas' voice sounded terribly faint as he answered. "So close and neither of them mine any longer. Before it was only when he touched me, but I fear my time with Riven has precipitated the condition. My body grieves for them, Aragorn, though both of them still live. And now I fear I shall fade clear away."

"Legolas, you're not making any… sense…" The King trailed off as Legolas' words sank in. 'To have them both so close' … "Elrohir?!" He hissed, disbelief sapping his strength as he sank onto the bed beside Legolas. "No. I will not have it." Aragorn grasped Legolas' shoulders, suddenly holding all of his weight as he began to slump forwards. "You will not die when those whom I hold closest to my heart would suffer most at your loss." Resting his head on Aragorn's shoulder, Legolas sighed.

"I think there is little you can do against it."

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Gosh… that was a long chapter. The revelations begin. :D - evil grin.

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Pasha ToH, Haldir's Heart and Soul, felicia : Glad you're still enjoying, thanks for the reviews. Can't answer any questions without spoiling things I'm afraid!! There's too much coming up…

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LadyJanelly, Grumpy : You can't say he didn't try… sigh

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smoothNcreamy : Elihor? An new variation :P Elihor and Elanad to the rescue! Ahem… sorry.

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nevermind : I'm sorry! Not much I could do about that… Elessarionnath… you're right, I think just saying 'boys' would be easier. You make me feel so warm and fuzzy when you compliment me, I might encourage people to be more critical more often if this is the result. Thankies!!!


	8. Chapter 8

My great apologies for the wait. This chapter is a complete re-think and re-write of this part of the story. Needless to say, that took a little while. Also I spent the last couple of days wrecking my hands and several expensive pieces of gear in a climbing course, getting ready for an upcoming assessment. This has hindered my typing skills a little ;-)

Hope you like this more than what I might have posted before the rewrite only you won't be able to read that to compare it; so if you don't, it's tough.

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Last note, I swear. Is there anyone out there who will beta for me? It will slow the posting process (the reason I dumped my last beta, near two weeks to beta one chapter just wasn't on), and I would have to convince who ever takes me on that I am never going to spell 'American' - it's our language, damn it! - but I would appreciate it (and so would nevermind, hehe).

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The pen hesitated over the page, having inscribed only a name. He had tears in his eyes and his throat was thick. He gazed out of the window into the thick forest beyond in attempt to clear his mind a little. The turmoil caused just by writing that name had surprised him, he had never imagined writing a letter could be so difficult.

'Elrohir'

The page declared. How often he had headed a letter with that name, during painful separations when both of them had been needed in their respective homes. They had written close to every day when possible, until the messengers had refused to take the letters for passing each other so often on the roads. Then it had been packages, a week's worth of correspondence tied with care into one bundle. Everything from weather reports to poetry had been shared in those days, the good days. Then there had been the bad days, those days and weeks and months shortly after Celebrían's going over sea when none had been able to locate the twins and the letters had piled up unsent. Those days when Legolas had mourned his mother's passing in a haze of unresponsiveness and the letters had gathered on his desk unread. But at the end of it all - when Legolas had ridden to find his absent love, those letters packing his saddlebags; when Elrohir had stormed into Mirkwood to thrust his most recent letter into Legolas' hands - they had been together. It might have seemed strange that, while they couldn't stop talking when they were apart, words had seemed so useless when they were together. They could be reunited after months and yet be perfectly happy to sit in peace, simply needing contact and relishing each other's company.

'I'm writing to apologise for my hasty departure.' His hand added at last, freed from the momentary mind lock and yet not as steady as he might have liked. Taking a deep breath and wiping at his eyes, he grasped the pen more tightly and continued. 'I find myself regretting our confrontation in Minas Tirith a month ago, and would like a chance to try again.'

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Thranduil watched with curiosity as his son waved off a messenger and turned back towards the palace. It had been a long time since he had placed so much importance on one letter, and the King had thought his friendship with the elf in Imladris had ended some time back. Indeed though he had visited often, Thranduil had been more than pleased to turn the Noldor elf away after his son had expressed no desire to see him. They had clearly had an argument of some sort, for Legolas had been out of sorts for some time afterwards, perhaps this letter was not meant for him.

Maybe Legolas had finally found himself a maiden and was preparing to settle down. Thranduil sighed, pleading with the Valar that this would be the case. He had thought that his friend in Imladris had been a cover for some girl he had found, their constantly exchanged correspondence only making him more convinced. He had been a little more than surprised when the Imladris elf had turned up, just as his son had described him, no she-elf at all. He sighed again, and looked to the darkening skies. His son had been alone for far too long.

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He didn't think he had ever been so nervous upon entering Imladris. Elrohir's return letter had been as long as his had been brief. Much it had said, but the bottom line had been underlined and repeated. 'Come home.' It had said. 'I'll be waiting. Just come home.'

His ride into the Last Homely House over ten years ago had been a very different one. Without warning he had chosen to return to the place Elrohir emphasised was home for both of them, whenever he needed the peace it offered from his home conflicts. He had been filled with joy and excitement, and had known that Elrohir would be too, as soon as he told him what he had found out. Again and again he had practised his words, the speech he would use to tell his lover that they had created another life. The shadows hadn't reached him then, they were far too distant. For now there was only happiness.

Happiness that had been shattered so shortly afterwards.

But that was not the thing to think of now.

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"Elrohir, stop pacing." Elrohir was lost in his own thoughts. He should have been here by now. He'd calculated it perfectly. The amount of time it would take the message to get back, how long it would take him to ready himself to leave, the time for his own journey. Elrohir paused at one end of the room and spun on his heel, pacing back the other way. He should have been here by now.

"Elrohir, _please_ stop pacing."

"Perhaps the message has been delayed?" Elrohir considered, more to himself than his brother, as he span around another corner and continued pacing.

Giving a shout, Elladan leapt from his chair and tackled Elrohir to the ground. Elrohir watched him, wide eyed as he wondered whether or not his brother had finally gone mad.

"You _will_ stop pacing now, or I will be forced to take _dire action_." Elladan growled.

"Yes brother." Elrohir answered softly.

"Alright then." Elladan slowly lifted off the floor, offering his brother a hand up. He ignored it, remaining sitting on the floor and rubbing at the back of his head.

"You could have just asked me to stop, you know." Elrohir was saved from further 'dire action' by a knock that came at the door of the room that adjoined their two bedchambers. His head quickly forgotten, Elrohir dived for the door and yanked it open with enough energy to near enough take it off the hinges. Lindir, one of the few remaining elves in Imladris after Elrond's departure, simply looked at him affectionately.

"He's here."

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Legolas stood stiffly in the courtyard, his cloak wrapped tight around his shoulders as if he were a man, chilled by the winds. He turned suddenly when Elrohir reached the top of the stairs and a glimmer of the smile of welcome he might have once expected flickered across his face.

Seeing him there, waiting with his heart wide upon, was so reminiscent of past days and past arrivals that Elrohir gave into his first impulse - dashing down the steps and near throwing himself into Legolas' arms. Not given time to think, routine took over for Legolas and he wrapped his own arms around Elrohir's shoulders, kissing him lightly upon the forehead. His heart sighed in contentment; he had not realised how very much he had missed this, just the simple act of holding and being held.

"I knew you would come." Elrohir whispered through his hair.

"There is much that needs to be said. I could not leave things as they stood between us."

"You left without word, everyone was desperately worried about you."

"I had"

"Aragorn said it was my fault." This under his breath as he stepped backwards to look over the other elf, still grasping his shoulders tightly. Legolas looked away, biting at his lip. "I never meant to hurt you that way." Elrohir continued. "If I had known I was causing you grief I would have"

"No. I wouldn't have wanted that. I was simply not ready to see you. If I had not talked with you then, I would never have been able to see you now."

"Still" Elrohir sighed, looking about him as though searching for words in the walls. "Shall we sit?" He asked finally, gesturing to a seat hidden in the corner of the room behind a curtain of ivy that cascaded from the roof.

They moved together, their bodies remembering an old unity that meant Elrohir's short clipped strides lengthen and Legolas' long strides shorten. Only when they reached the bench did newer uncertainties take over. Legolas sat with his back against the arm rest at one side, his legs drawn up between them, crossed at the ankles - a physical barrier between them. Elrohir sat tight against the back of the seat on the other side, his heels drawn up to his thighs and his chin rested upon his knees.

After a moments silence, Legolas sighed.

"I remember a time when we sat more or less where we are now and played a game where we tempted the birds in with song, competing to see who could coax the most in at once."

"I doubt many would come at our call these days."

"There is too much tension between us, they would give us the time to work it out." Legolas smiled wryly. Elrohir simply nodded in reply, Legolas having pinpointed the exact reason he had been thinking of. Legolas watched Elrohir as he looked out into the valley that lay beyond the alcove they sat behind. "Rivendell is quiet these days."

"It is emptied. There are few who can stand this place without the company it once kept."

"And yet it still keeps the company I come searching for." Still Elrohir did not look up and meet his eyes.

"Aye, but have you found it yet? You hover still, on the boundary. Have you yet stepped in to the land that once offered you solace?" Now he looked up, and Legolas could see the sheen of tears in his eyes.

"It is hard. Taking that step." Legolas replied seriously, knowing they were no longer talking of Imladris and the Last Homely House.

"It could not be easier. You must simply let go."

And that was how Legolas found himself tight in the arms of the one he had separated himself from - body and mind - for so long, crying tears that he had long thought dried out as he was rocked to a gentle melody and the birds began to settle around them.

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LadyJanelly : This do you for a further talk? I couldn't leave things like that, and Legolas knew it and bullied me into this chapter.

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Haldir's Heart and Soul : I think Elrohir's suffering almost as much as Legolas because, although he's not got all the facts, he's still lost a son, and then been separated from his lover in the worst way - not knowing if its his fault or not, not knowing if Legolas even _wanted_ him to go looking for him. Besides which, Legolas isn't exactly making it easy for him.

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nevermind : I hope I've managed to keep some of that intensity for this chapter, though it is a reconciliation. I see the conversations a lot more easily than I see the setup and the surroundings.

Wanna beta? That way you could be sure I'd never typo again! ;-)

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smoothNcreamy : hehe, don't worry, it made me laugh, I like it. Can't promise anything, I'm afraid. _Bites tongue with the temptation to give spoilers_ Must resist!

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dawn : Have a tissue. Thanks!

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drew'sgirl : Thanks for the review. Glad I could convert you.

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ElvenRanger13 : Thanks for the review!


	9. Chapter 9

AN: You're going to kill me. I'm the typing dead. Tolkien save my soul.

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bows to Sessyangel My fabulous beta, brave soul. Thanks a lot.

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The birds scattered only moments before the elves heard the clatter of hooves in the courtyard, pulling their attention back outwards. Standing, Elrohir brought Legolas up alongside him, still limp from the emotional outpouring. Scrubbing inelegantly at his eyes with his sleeve, Legolas gestured towards the door, suggesting that they should go out and find out who the unexpected visitor was.

As they headed towards the courtyard, they came across Lindir hurrying in the other direction. He paused upon seeing them and looked about himself before telling them:

"Something bad is afoot in Gondor, that the young Prince should appear at our door so dishevelled. I will have food and rest prepared for him when your talk is done."

"My thanks Lindir." Elrohir replied, following Legolas who was already dashing towards the courtyard. Eldarion stood there, soothing Trini quietly as the mare shifted uncertainly in her new surroundings. He appeared uninjured, though his dress suggested he had been riding hard for many days, travel-worn as it was. But what struck Legolas most of all was the weariness in his eyes. Reddened and blood-shot, it looked as though he had been crying, and this more than anything worried the Mirkwood Prince.

"What news from Gondor, Prince of Men?" Elrohir enquired, moving forward into the light. Elladan appeared at his side and he greeted him with a nod.

"Fell news, Lords of the Elves. Fell news indeed." Eldarion looked away as his voice hitched, focusing on some point in the distance.

"Come inside, Mardus will take your horse. Rivendell is a long distance for one so young as yourself. Do you travel alone?"

"Aye, alone. That is what I am. And weary." The young prince looked close to collapsing as Trini was taken from him. Legolas hurried to his side, taking his elbow and leading him back into the building as the twins exchanged a worried glance. Something was very wrong in Gondor.

Guiding Eldarion to a soft seat, Legolas crouched before him and held his gaze.

"What has happened in Gondor that Aragorn would allow you to travel so far unaccompanied?"

"He gave no consent to my leaving, I simply could not remain any longer."

"Then let me ask again, what has happened in Gondor?" Eldarion stifled a sob as his eyes misted over, brimming with tears.

"My brother is dead."

Legolas reeled, standing and backing away from the tearful boy, letting Elladan and Elrohir take his place as comforter. Words they exchanged, yet he heard none of it — he was far away, listening to the laughing voice of a young boy as he called across the field to him,

"Uncle Legolas!" The voice called. "You must stay with us forever."

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Elladan held the young Prince as his body finally became lax, his breathing evening out as exhaustion took him.

"Rest, young one." He breathed, lifting him into his arms. The bed Lindir had prepared had sat in waiting for the boy as he cried out his grief into his uncles' arms. Now he carried him gently though the house to it, leaving his brother with Legolas.

Elrohir rubbed wearily at his eyes as he took a seat where his nephew had been only moments before. Realising that Legolas had been awfully quiet as they soothed the young boy's fears away, Elrohir's gaze sought him out. He found him at last slumped in the corner of the room where he had fallen upon hitting the wall.

"Legolas, why did you not talk with Eldarion? He knows you better than either Elladan or myself." He asked, worried for his silence.

"There is nothing I might say to him that would hide the wound in my own heart." He stood jerkily - as though pulled upright on strings - and headed for the door. "I will pack for Minas Tirith. Eldarion must be taken home."

Elrohir, unable to find the right words, simply watched him go.

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Elrohir and Elladan rode side by side behind the two Princes. Neither seemed quite aware of their surroundings, their gazes lost in the middle distance. Elrohir had been able to coax no words from Legolas that night, and though Elladan attributed his extreme reaction to the news due to the close connection he had forged with the two younger Telcontar during the last few years, Elrohir was not so sure. He sensed that there was something deeper that he was missing.

"I taught him swordplay and how to use daggers and knives, though father was against it." Eldarion admitted guiltily. "It was not so much that he wanted to go to war or fight, only so that he could defend mother if the need arose." Eldarion spoke at last, as though justifying his own actions to those who would judge him. "He was out in the yard with only his horse, practising I did not know I should have" His voice trailed off, too pained to continue.

"I think Arwen would argue that she is more than capable of defending herself." Elrohir answered, with a soft smile.

"We knew that of course, but still, we were her sons and had some sense of duty towards her. I might be at war when mother finds herself in need of defence. When I turned twenty I was to go to join the Dunédain in the north and train to be a Ranger as my father had done. Riven would have had to protect her all of that time." Legolas had not missed the past tense in that comment.

"What will you do now?" He asked.

"I plan to part ways with you when we reach the northern path, for I am twelve and the Rangers will still take me in. I cannot return to Gondor. Not now. I might return later, when I have grown to understand this pain a little better."

"You will not support your parents? They have lost a child, and might suffer unduly to lose the other so soon afterwards, however temporarily."

"They have each other for support. I have no one." Eldarion answered coldly, before turning to gaze back out down the path out of the valley.

"You cannot believe that!" Elladan gasped.

"I once turned to him as he turned to me. We were brothers. Now he is gone." Pain brought his voice to a shout.

"You cannot forsake your parents now, Eldarion." Elrohir remained the voice of reason.

"I cannot go to them without him at my side. I have failed him."

"You could have done nothing more." Legolas offered.

"Those are the words of the defeated." He spat back, temper rising.

"He was no longer your charge, in your care. You must accept this defeat else everything you do hereafter will be a further defeat. You have to accept defeat to go on to future victory in his name." Legolas' words were strong, though they were filled with sorrow.

"He should have been victorious in his own name." Eldarion's voice was a cry as he fought back tears of youth spoiled.

"And he was, many times over. But his path has lead him elsewhere." Legolas softened his tone.

"You loved him as a son, how can you not hate me?"

"You loved him as a brother, I could not have asked for more. No one else could have done that. Nowhere else would he have received such love." Legolas graced him with a sad smile, but nonetheless a grateful one. "And for that I thank you."

"You must think of your parents, Eldarion." Elladan added. "If you are missing, then your father will search for you, and then they too will be separated. Would it not be better to face your return now than to separate your whole family in this time when you need each other the most?"

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Aragorn met the four riders at the gates, Arwen at his side. Their reunion with their son was filled with tears as he begged their forgiveness and they granted it without thought. Aragorn's eyes met Legolas', and hesitated there for a moment before calling them all inside out of the chill spring winds.

It was much later when Aragorn came looking for Legolas, after he had missed the evening meal. He found him in Tara's stall, sitting at her side and lost in his own thoughts.

"It wasn't her fault, you know." He said at last, breaking the silence. Legolas did not look up, nor respond. "He had a seizure; there was no way she could have stopped him from falling. She ran to get help, but we didn't get back in time. His body couldn't handle the strain. He" Aragorn hesitated. He had all-but convinced himself that he was not going to tell Legolas but now he felt he needed to, or the decision would haunt him.

"He died with your name on his lips." He flinched at the harsh sound of pain that the bereaved father made, knowing no way to ease his pain, his own still hot in his chest.

"I'm sorry."

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Sesshyangel : Legolas is older, though not by more than a few years, nothing in the life of an elf. I normally follow the line of thought that Legolas is very much younger, but for this fic he's older. Ta for the beta :D

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Haldir's Heart and Soul : Yes they are ;-) That might be the only way they get through this.

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LadyJanelly : Glad you liked it. Hope you don't hate me too much for this.

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smoothNcreamy : I'm sorry I confused you. That took place about a month after the previous chapter. Legolas pulled his standard disappearing trick, and ran away when it got too painful for him.


	10. Chapter 10

Home now, so I'm on my brother's computer and i'm not completely sure how to use it - keep opening outlook accidentally and it keeps talking to me in strange voices... how computer literate am i! Hopefully it'll still talk with We'll soon find out i suppose.

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Aragorn's face was drawn as he wandered back through the halls towards the warm conference room where he had left the others. On entering the room he stood for a moment, allowing those alerted to his presence to return to their peace. Arwen sat on the long sofa, Eldarion on her knee though he was much too large for such a position, his head buried in her shoulder. His reasons for fleeing had been long discussed, and his heart settled, if not totally cleared of its guilt. Elladan sat by her side, a supporting arm around her shoulder, a second around her son's. Elrohir stood separate, by the fire-place staring into its flickering glow. He seemed distant to Aragorn, and he had not looked up when he had entered the room.

"Elrohir." He called softly. "Come outside for a moment." Elladan looked up, curious, but made no move to follow as the man led his brother out of the room.

"What is it, Aragorn? What troubles you?"

"You are not needed here, but at Legolas' side." Aragorn answered bluntly, trying to hide surfacing anger that his brother was not _already_ at his side. The anger was not all Elrohir's fault, for it had been building up these past weeks over things he could not control, hurts he could not heal. It was, however, finding its outlet here, in the one whose hands the blame could most readily be laid.

Elrohir shook his head. "He has refused to see me for a decade now, and not without good reason. I doubt I can offer him any consolation for this loss. I would rather be with you and Arwen, whose suffering is the strongest."

Aragorn could feel himself reddening as he stepped forward and into Elrohir's space, near burning with rage. "He has lost _your_ child for the second time," he seethed. "You will offer him _whatever_ he needs, your head on a platter if it would make things better, understood? And know this: if I had known it was you in the first place, I would have gutted you myself that day in Imladris. I only let you go now because he needs you at his side."

Elrohir could not breathe, his lips a fine line and cheeks paling. The strong arm of shock and horrified grief had closed about his chest and he _could not breathe_ past the pressure it was applying. The arm shifted only long enough to clamp a hand around his throat and he staggered backwards against the wall, slumping in a heap to the ground as his legs gave way beneath him.

"Riven." He gasped past the chokehold. "Riven was…" Aragorn knelt by his side, suddenly guilty at the effect his words were having on Elrohir.

"He was hidden to keep him safe from Thranduil."

"Thranduil… of course… but why me? Ten years! _Ten years_ I didn't come and see him, because I thought he would remind me of a child I had _lost_. I could have known him. Could have watched him grow."

"Legolas tried—to know him, that is. It nearly killed him, grief tore him apart every time they met. As it does now." Aragorn added a little extra weight to those last few words.

"I must find him." Elrohir realised, gaining his feet with a little help from the wall. "I must speak with him."

"Go. And hold on to him when you find him, for I fear he will need all the anchorage he can find."

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Legolas sat alone in the corner of the stable complex. Tara looked mournfully over the door at the passers-by, and waited for his master's return without understanding.

The elf did not look up or respond as Elrohir called out his name in relief. Reaching him, the dark-haired elf took him up in his arms and held him.

"Aragorn has told me everything." He murmured when the fair elf still did not respond, his body limp in his arms.

"And how do you feel about me now, with these accusations laid against me?" Came a cold, emotionless response.

"There were no accusations in Aragorn's tale save those against my person, only a story of great loss. I am… not yet sure how to feel about this news. For now all I can do is regret I have spent so little time with him, getting to know him."

"Do not regret this. Every moment was a dagger in my heart. Knowing and not having is a torturous pleasure."

Elrohir tightened his arms around the fair elf at the admission. "Do you regret time not spent with him as a son?"

"I spent much time with him as such, though the grief that tainted every moment made it hard."

"How could you grieve over such a thing?"

"Because I forsook my fatherhood a long time ago. And with it any claim I might hold over him. And because I had forsaken you, accepting my path into darkness to save the two I hold most dear."

"But you still live…"

"I swore never to abandon him. He made me. I left only when the grief was so strong it opened a void at my feet and I was forced to choose between staying and taking that final step or running to return when I had found the strength to take a step back from the edge."

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Elladan walked into Elrohir's room to find him half way through returning his belongings to his saddlebags, his thoughts far from the wall he stared at.

"You plan to leave so soon?" His brother's question brought Elrohir suddenly back from his daydream.

"I find this place weights me, and Legolas does not need reminding of things he has lost right now. It will be best for both of us were we far from here." He replied, stowing his knife close to hand in the top of the bag and tying it off.

"And you would leave Aragorn and Arwen to mourn without our support?" Elladan sounded a little taken aback by this.

"Stay, if you feel so highly about it. But I cannot."

"I will." Elladan replied, disgruntled. "But I think it about time you two consigned past mistakes to the past, and begin living again. There are other things here that need your attention. Wounds heal if left to rest a while."

"Brother, I would that I had a moment to rest."

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And so it was that Aragorn watched as the two fathers rode out of Minas Tirith, not realising that it would be that last time in his mortal life that he saw them.

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Elladan passed into the borders of Imladris with a smile on his face. The end of his journey was in sight and he was looking forward to the comforts of home.

His horse, however, hesitated as he entered the woodland that surrounded his home. As Elladan urged him on he spotted a white horse, just off the path. Recognising Arod as he looked closer, Elladan dismounted and left his horse on the path, pushing his way into the trees. It wasn't like Legolas to leave Arod to wander so close to the borders, he had to be somewhere near at hand. He did not see Legolas in the tree as he entered the woods, and so he started as his voice came from above.

"Welcome home, Son of Elrond, Lord of Imladris. Though cold welcome it may be." Looking up, Elladan found that Legolas lay on the branches directly above him, facing upwards into the canopy.

"Cold? Why, what has happened at home while I have been gone?"

"It seems, though long I waited for the inevitable to happen, I am left to live on while all those that I love fall around me." Legolas replied wistfully, not turning to look at him.

"What has happened to Elrohir, Legolas? Where is he?" Elladan asked, infused with fear.

"He is in Lindir's care, failing to challenge the grief that attacks his soul - where an elf is weakest."

"Grief… but how?"

"He found he had a son, and that his son was dead and lost to him, all in the space of a day."

"He has known of your still-birth for near two decades now, how has this come across him now?" Anger and frustration made Elladan's tongue harsh.

"His 'still-born' son only died a month ago."

"A month…! That is not possible. Unless…"

"Ah yes, now you see."

"Riven?! How can that be? I knew that the births were close in date, but the babe was so small I thought it impossible that you would have been able to birth him and then ride. And Arwen looked upon him with such care, with all the love she had given her first son. Even father seemed convinced… But dead, you say? Oh Legolas, I am so sorry."

"Save your consolations. Elrohir needs you now, it is too late for my soul."

"Why are you not with him? Surely it is your companionship that will help him survive this…"

"I find I have put all of my strength and will into the raising of a son that was never my own, and was doomed long before he was ever conceived. I have none to spare for the living with whom I should have spent my time. Elrohir's advice was the best after all."

"I will not believe that. Pain of grief can never out do the joy of a life well lived, how ever short. Come with me. Elrohir needs you close, you cannot abandon him now."

"I hang by a thread on the precipice of grief. I know not what holds me here. There seems to be nothing left inside of me." Legolas hardly seemed to hear Elladan any more.

"_Elrohir is still here_, Legolas. Do not talk of him as though he has already passed! I will not accept that his fate is sealed. Together you have a chance to save each other, apart you are both lost."

"I should go to my father, show him what I have done. He would make the ending swift." Legolas told the trees absently.

"You talk of ending you own life when it could still save another. What have you become?"

Legolas turned suddenly and met Elladan's eyes, holding them as he answered. "A shell, Elladan. A shell made hollow and empty by the death of my soul inside. The remains worn away, year by year, until there is nothing left." The flicker of madness frightened Elladan as he sought for some way of rectifying this.

"Do you not remember the promise you made me? Or does your promise mean so little to you these days?" He asked softly.

"I am not sure I am the same that made that promise to you."

"That is a fine excuse for those who need one." He retorted.

"I have no excuse for the ill I have wrought upon the world. For here I am, as grief and mourning falls around me. And I find my grief is finally gone, for I have no soul left for it."

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LadyJanelly, nevermind, dawn, kitty. Haldir's Heart and Soul, drew's girl : Thanks For the review

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smoothNcreamy : I'M SORRY!!! but it was always going to happen that way... there was nothing i could do about it...

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narcolinde/erobey: Oh My Goodness... hi... iloveyourficsandcan'tbelieveyou'rereadingmineand... i'm... completely in shock... breathes THANKS FOR THE REVIEW!!

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Sesshyangel : Thankies hugely for the beta once more. and without saying too much... you might just find out... only you'll find out loooong before anyone else :p if you haven't read it already hehe

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Landos Star : I'm afraid you haven't misread, but patience is a virtue. :P Thanks a lot for the review


	11. Chapter 11

"What happens, brother, to a Peredhil who dies before he has made his choice?"

Elladan realised he had been caught staring when Elrohir confronted him with that most disturbing question. His twin sat with his back to him on a bench in the courtyard of Imladris, wrapped in a thick blanket as though chilled, a plate of food sitting untouched beside him.

"Do not ask such things, brother. I will not let you die, and neither will Legolas." He replied strongly, feeling like a liar.

"Legolas has already faded, have you not seen it in his eyes? Only his body remains, and his memories." Only now did Elrohir look up at him, his face pale and drawn. The younger twin's eyes filled with tears at the thought, and Elladan pushed the plate out of the way so that he could sit down beside him.

"I cannot let you fade to some unknown fate, nor to purgatory, if that be the result of such a death. Let us sail, and join father. We have kept it over-long to be reunited with those who have departed." He hated making such a decision so abruptly; his heart cried out for more time on Middle Earth, but if it would save his brother, Elladan would not hesitate.

"They say you can keep all that you wish in the Undying Lands, and cast away all else at the door."

"So they say, in the tales."

"Perhaps Legolas will be absolved of his guilt, and will return to me there. . ."

"His suffering soul will be calmed."

"Do you think we will find him there… Riven, I mean? Will Mandos keep him in his halls until the end of time? He was not Half-elven, but there is man's blood in him… What if…"

"We cannot think to presume. We can only see what we find when we get there."

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The wind made his hair fly wildly and the sail behind him flap vigorously. Spray flew up at him and the salt stung his face. It was a hard road to take - the straight road West across the sea. And harder still when the heart was heavy and the only thought that kept him going was that of… of what? Of relief? Forgiveness? Forgetting? No, he had no wish to forget… but then every wish in the world for that to be the case. How could he expect such pain to fade away?

He looked up and found Elladan and Elrohir standing at the prow, tall and proud. They were lords, Kings in their own country, and now they would travel across sea to be naught but star-children at the feet of the Valar. . . There were no titles there.

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Three figures awaited them at the quayside. If asked, none of the elves on board could have told of the final stages of the journey to this land lost to Arda.

As Legolas disembarked he found his steps less weighted than when he had alighted, and looking to the twins he found a light in their eyes that had been absent for some time - worn away by the cares of Middle Earth, though none of them would be able to say when that light had begun to fade. He laughed without thought, and the sound surprised him - so full of youth as it was. It was as though the cares had been washed from his soul and his life had been laid out behind him in a way that he might look at it without feeling a connection to the events. It was a strangely detached feeling, but try as he might he could not bring himself to worry about it. So he laughed some more instead.

Elrond and Celebrían gathered the twins up in their arms with peaceful sighs of contentment, and together the four wandered inland leaving Legolas with the third elf.

He stood tall and proud, this elf, dark-haired and stern of face. His eyes glittered a little though, when he smiled, and his face softened.

"I am Tithen. I've been waiting for you." Legolas could not help but laugh at this strange introduction, for though the other elf had introduced him self as 'Little' he was in fact taller than Legolas. "You laugh as though you have been waiting to for some time. Will you tell me of the sadness that has stolen your laughter?" He asked, beginning to walk along the path after the family.

Legolas followed, thinking over his answer. There was much that could be said to answer such a question, and he didn't think there was anyone to which he had told the whole story. Well, why not? He was in no danger here, and they were all out of reach of his father. . .

Seeing his indecision, Tithen led him off the path and into a field of wildflowers. He took a seat amongst the flowers--nearly hidden by them, in fact--and waited for Legolas to settle beside him. Legolas laid back in the long grass, cushioned by its softness. Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked at Tithen again.

"It is a long tale, filled with much sorrow," he warned.

"There is no time here, thus no 'long' or 'short'. The sorrow must be confronted, else you will never truly embrace your laughter."

Legolas smiled. "Then I shall begin… long ago. When Legolas met Elrohir in Mirkwood forest on a sunny day in June--"

"Do you often tell stories in the third person?" Tithen asked, laughing softly at the beginning of his tale.

"Shh… a sunny day in June and loved him though he said nothing and did nothing… He was unconscious, you see… But that is another story." Tithen laughed softly and Legolas smiled, silently promising that story would be told before long. "Six hundred years passed, and there was sorrow here and there, but mostly joy—you forget about the joy, don't you, when there is so much sorrow… And yet, the joy outweighs it without effort. Nevertheless, so small an amount of sorrow can cloud a thousand years."

"It is the way of time, that sorrow fills your mind and joy is pushed away."

Legolas gave a nod and continued, "Anyway, after six hundred years a short separation between the two occurred, in during which Legolas realised that he was with child. He was scared at first, for such things were highly outlawed in Mirkwood Forest. It would have meant his head and the life of his child if anyone had found out. He travelled quickly to Elrohir's side in hopes he would offer him sanctuary in Rivendell, where they would be able to bring up the child together. When he left Rivendell a short time later, he travelled to Fangorn with the nursemaid who had midwifed for his mother when he was born, and had the baby there."

"Wait… what happened to Elrohir and Rivendell?"

"That is an episode of my life I would rather forget, and I will not dwell on it now. Mistakes were made on both sides, when much future suffering could have been avoided." Legolas sighed. "And so, knowing he could not return to Mirkwood or Imladris with the child, Legolas turned to his last remaining hope. He took the child to Gondor, and Aragorn, entrusting him into his care, then disappearing into the night. Medical assistance was sought that meant returning to Rivendell one last time, but when he left, Legolas swore he would never see that place again."

"I bet that oath did not hold. None can deny themselves that which they love." Tithen declared with a smile.

"It was to Gondor that first he did return, to his son. But the enforced separation was hard on his heart, and Legolas did suffer. In this suffering he persevered, but Lady Arwen upon seeing this sent him away. He found that disappearing soothed his pained heart a little and resolved to return. But Elrohir found him upon his return, and the pain he brought his fragile heart, coupled with the longing was too much… Soon after the vow was broken, Legolas returned to Imladris, to a love he had long denied himself. But here, here fell news awaited him: the death of his first-born son." He drifted for a moment in thought of that event, though still his emotions were not attached to the memory.

"The male-born are precious to the Valar;" Tithen spoke. "They bring them back into their arms so early in their lives for their innocence is always treasured here. Messages were sent, in the beginning, of the sanctity of such children. Are these words forgotten so easily?"

"It has always been this way in my memory. My father has long been the supporter of action against those who stray."

"Ah, Thranduil," Tithen murmured almost to himself, staring absently out into the mists. "Did the loss of your first son shake you so badly?"

Legolas simply stared, absorbing this new information with shock. There was no doubt in his mind what Tithen meant.

"My father…"

"His love bore him a son in the second century of their union. But the babe was not for so harsh a world, and never opened his eyes to see it. The loss was too much for young Galenlas, and he fell to grief shortly after."

"Galenlas… I was named for him." Legolas observed.

"And later your wood. Their bond was strong, but Thranduil survived for his forest. He had no heir. This grief must have driven him to make so dire a judgement upon his people."

"And for him to lose mother too… how it must have embittered him."

"It can be seen how a grieving heart might twist such a thing of joy."

"Will Riven meet this child? He is half uncle to him; it might gladden him to know he has another."

"Yes, _I_ have met him." A smile stretched across his face at the shock and surprise on Legolas'. "Here I am called by my father-name. Tithen Galen."

"I never called you thus." Legolas objected weakly.

"No." He smiled softly, as though admonishing his naïvety. "This is the name that Adar Elrohir called me in his dreams. He thought of me often, and wept for me from time to time though I did not suffer."

"He suffered in your parting, much as I did."

"I was safe, and happy with my aunt and uncle, and Eldarion to watch over me."

"Yet still we would have had you at our side." Legolas reasoned. He fell silent, watching his grown son with curiosity, a smile spreading over his face as pride filled him. "The knowledge of this place has infused you with thoughts so much larger than yourself. How does it suit you?"

"Much as my name does. It fits in a way I never imagined. I think of this as my adulthood, though my childhood barely ended in a way that might be thought of as a coming of age." He stood then, leaving Legolas musing on his words, to embrace Elrohir whose approach had been missed by the blond elf.

"I apologise for my tardiness, it has been a long time since I have seen my mother." Elrohir spoke softly.

"I can tell it will be difficult for you to release the concept of time." Tithen laughed. "There is no late here, no rush, no hurry. Only that you are here, and so are we." Together they sat back down beside Legolas. Seeing the absent look in his eyes, Elrohir shuffled closer and leant over as if to kiss him. Tithen stopped him with a hand on his back.

"Wait," he murmured.

"What is it?"

"He returns to us, but you must give him a moment. Wounds such as those his heart took take some time to heal, even here. Wait a moment more." When Legolas looked up a moment later it seemed as though a spark that had been missing from his eyes since the death of his mother and the darkening of his wood was returned to him. He grinned widely at Elrohir, and closed the small distance between them to kiss him soundly.

"Things haven't been so bad, have they," he spoke at last. "After all, here we are." He sat up to wrap one arm around Riven and the other around Elrohir. "And what more could we want?" Elrohir's tummy rumbled in reply.

"Lunch?" He asked sheepishly. Legolas pushed him away into a patch of seeding dandelions, resulting in a huge explosion of seeds.

"Lunch! I'll give you lunch!" He laughed, leaping after him and taking them both rolling across the field. Elladan and Tirith, son of Galenlas, came to stand behind Tithen, watching the two gambolling across the fields.

"Do you think we'll ever get them to act their age?" Elladan asked.

"No. But I don't think it will matter too much here… let them play, they have deserved it." Tithen answered, turning with the other two back towards the city.

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_Just a little green_

_Like the colour when the spring is born_

_There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow_

_Just a little green_

_Like the nights when the northern lights perform_

_There'll be icicles and birthday clothes_

_And sometimes there'll be sorrow_

_Joni Mitchell_

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THE END

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Riven meaning torn apart, separated violently (English)

Tithen Galen meaning Little Green (Sindarin - hopefully)

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Huge thanks to all who have followed the story, especially those who have reviewed

- sielge, smoothNcreamy, Kitty, nevermind, acuamaine, cami, LadyJanelly, grumpy, non-christian, dawn, Haldir's Heart and Soul, Pasha ToH, felicia, drew's girl, ElvenRanger13, narcolinde/erobey & Landos Star -

And **most** especially SesshyAngel, my fabulous Beta

You've made it a joy. Hope I'll see you again for the next one after the new year!


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